1.  Where are you from?  Where do you live now?  I was born in Michigan, and grew up in Western Pennsylvania.  First in small town called Oil City, and then we moved to Pittsburgh.  Since then I’ve lived in New Hampshire, New York City, and San Francisco.  I recently moved down to Menlo Park, a town just south of San Francisco.

2.  How’d you get interested in design? I’ve been a tinkerer, doodler, and amateur inventor since I can first remember.  I’ve always enjoyed art, building things, and working on crafts and in the shop.  I love coming up with new ideas and seeing if I can turn them into something real.  In school I studied engineering, and to me, design is the perfect combination of the aesthetic and emotional joys of art with the problem-solving challenges of engineering.

3.  What’s your favorite Design Public product and why? These days I have my eye on the Squat Benches by Vessel.  We have a small house, and we could use both more storage and seating – but we don’t have room for both. These are great multifunctional pieces that can do double duty depending on what we need them for.

4. What do you like most about our company?  Why do you work here (besides the fact that you are the co-founder)? Our people are awesome. They are passionate, imaginative, fun to be around, and great at what they do. Why I work here: We’re free to be as innovative as we can be – in all parts of our business. We’re constantly trying new things and brainstorming ways to improve on what we’re doing, so it’s a very energetic and fun environment that allows me to be creative and do something different every day.  Plus it’s just a fun industry: the designers, our customers, the parties.

5.  If you weren’t doing this what would you do? I’ve always toyed with being a full-time artist, but I’m pretty enticed by the career of mad scientist / inventor – working alone in the basement, letting my personal hygiene slip, talking to myself.  And, like George Costanza, I was always wanted to pretend to be an architect.

6.   What do you do in your spare time? I try to fit in art when I can: painting and drawing, going to galleries and museums. I love enjoying all of the amazing outdoor opportunities available here in Northern CA.  I have some of the best cycling, hiking, and trail running right outside my front door.  I go backpacking up in the mountains.  I’m big into cooking. These days I also spend a lot of time writing software, a newfound hobby of mine.

7.  Favorite member of the A-Team? Capt. Murdock.  He was the only one who truly understood me.

Sorry to tell you this, but Sina recently tied the knot and is off the market.  If you’d like to buy him a gift even though he didn’t invite you, here’s his Wish List!