Product design and engineering studio

We fit the pieces until the whole holds its weight.

Tesserae takes a rough idea apart into its load-bearing pieces, then reassembles it into something a person can pick up, plug in, and trust.

Hand-assembled mosaic of matte ceramic tiles in ochre, ink black and bone white, a few tiles lifted from a dark wooden table under raking window light.

Close view of a tile layout being rearranged on a workbench, gaps measured with a fine steel rule.

How a piece becomes a product.

Find the seam

We map where a product will break, confuse, or delight before we draw a single screen or cut a single part.

Cut the prototype

Rough physical and software prototypes, each built to answer one question and then thrown away without regret.

Engineer the joint

Interface, firmware, and fabrication are decided together, so no handoff quietly drops a detail on the floor.

Hand over the whole

Documented systems, tested builds, and a team that can keep going on its own. Our job ends when you no longer need us.

Selected studies

Illustrative examples of our method. These describe the kind of work we do, not specific client engagements.

Illustrative study A
A bench instrument with one dial

Reworked around a single hand-operated control. The menu tree was cut from a sprawl of screens down to a handful people could hold in their heads.
Illustrative study B
Foam first, then firmware

Physical models settled grip and button travel before any firmware was written, so the software was shaped by how the object actually sat in a hand.
Illustrative study C
A hinge that explains itself

The joint was engineered alongside the interaction it supports, so the motion, the sound, and the on-screen state all agree with one another.

Four rules we do not bend.

i.
Fewer parts, better parts.
ii.
Prototype with the material it will ship in.
iii.
Every pixel has an owner in the code.
iv.
Leave the room better documented than we found it.

Bring us one piece that isn't working.

Tell us what is loose, what is confusing, or what you wish existed. We reply within a few working days with a candid read on whether we are the right people.