Luke Tikellis

Product Design Engineering

PASSIONATE REALISM, ENDURING COMMITMENT, AUDACIOUS EMPATHY, HONEST WORK, & CONSTRUCTIVE DISSONANCE.

Heya Folks,

I'm Luke (He/They), and these are the qualities that best reflect my personality. Design is a compromise of conflicting variables, and as a Product Design Engineer, I am a reflection of this. My speciality is in manufacturing and operations, helping people turn ideas into reality.

My LinkedIn details my 3 years of experience in the manufacturing sector, as an operations engineer and project manager. Similarly, my folio demonstrates my physical skills in prototyping, proficiency with Solidworks or ability to visually communicate ideas through Keyshot animations.

On a more personal note, I am extremely passionate about the neuroqueer, and wider neurodivergent community. This passion is demonstrated through my capstone project, which is about helping meet the everyday sensory needs of this community.

Specifically, 96% of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (a highly individualised, developmental disorder & subset of the neurodivergent community) have abnormal sensory needs. Failure to meet these needs can cause meltdowns or shutdowns in an ASD individual. An autistic meltdown is a distressing event where a person is overwhelmed by their current sensory environment, and uncontrollably shuts down for an extended period of time.

My product, the Sensory Bracer is designed to help with these sensory needs, by being worn under sensory garments. A sensory garment is a compression top (similar to sports compression clothing) that provides additional pressure on a person’s chest, and helps comfort their body. However, each individual with ASD is unique, and needs a different and/or changing level of pressure. Therefore, the Sensory Bracer is a modular and polymer exoskeleton that mechanically adjusts the level of pressure provided by the sensory garment, meeting the needs of that specific person.

Sensory Bracer - Meeting the everday sensory needs of ASD adults

Product Overview - Showing one of each module

Assemlby View - With linked animation

Default Configuration of Modules

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.