I’ve always had a drive to create systems. There is something universal about a ball rolling down a ramp; it’s a concept that shows up across history and throughout almost every culture. To me, these systems serve as a crude but beautiful conceptual simulation of flow. We instinctively understand that the force moving a ball down a track is the same one that makes a river run or sand form into a cone. By distilling that massive, complicated physics into a modular ramp, it becomes something we can finally get our hands on, interact with, and simply enjoy.
The choice to use foldable flat-stock material is a deliberate effort to democratize the work. Whether it’s paper, cardboard, or industrial metal, I want this to be accessible. By using designs that can be executed on anything from a hobbyist craft cutter to a professional water jet, the barrier to entry disappears.
I originally explored this as a commercial product through a Kickstarter campaign, but I soon realized that the inherent fragility of paper—while beautiful—wasn't suited for traditional retail. Rather than shelving the project, I leaned fully into the open-source model. I’d rather live in a world where we spend our time sharing wonderful ideas than one where we’re constantly competing for imaginary resources like status and wealth.
This pivot to sharing is exactly what allowed the project to "skitter" into random corners of human culture. My blue-sky goal became a reality when an educational toy company in South Korea discovered my open-source designs and used them for their premier kit. I now have a box of those kits in my studio; I can’t read the Korean text, but seeing my name on the box and knowing children I’ll never meet are exploring my designs is exactly why I do this.
I also play with scale because it shifts how we see ourselves. When the system is small, you are the giant architect, pouring a handful of BBs into a cone and watching them flow through your creation. But when you build it big out of cardboard, the roles flip. You feel like a kid again. You have to physically navigate the sculpture, walking a handball from one end of the room back to the start. In the end, whether it’s on a desk or covering a wall, the project is about the joy of a shared idea in motion.

You can download the print-and-cut package and make your own Ball and Ramp sculpture.