Jinsoo an is a designer, researcher, and technologist who creates connected systems

Past through present

Prior to relocating to California in 1995, Jinsoo was raised on a small farm in South Korea, just a few miles away from the DMZ. The farm was surrounded by wet rice fields and unpaved streets where hundreds of tanks would roam. Jinsoo remembers waving his arms and yelling, “M.R.E.!” at the soldiers in their enormous tanks, hoping to score a bag of what seemed like a Happy Meal. Inside a modular dwelling constructed by his grandfather, bricks of fermenting meju used to hang above a window. Beneath, there laid a collection of electronic parts from teardowns, stacks of floppy disks containing home-brew games, and a box of vivid origami papers from a factory down the street. Through this juxtaposed environment, Jinsoo developed a unique fascination for how tangible and digital objects are interconnected.

Since 2008, Jinsoo has designed acclaimed platforms for over 40 Fortune 500 companies across 20 industries. With these platforms, he has helped to shape the experiences of hundreds of millions of people in North America. In 2013, he became involved in bringing positive social change by decoding how people interpret senses and emotions. In the following year, he founded Project Nourished, a public-benefit initiative with a goal of diversifying methods of consumption and maximizing therapeutic qualities of ingestibles.

During his spare time, Jinsoo enjoys collecting and restoring antiquated cameras and electronics. He also loves to inspire people of all ages by speaking to them and educating them on various topics. His favorite topics include play, hyperreality, fandom, commensality, wellness, social isolation, and aging. Periodically, he engages with local communities to strengthen public–private partnerships in order to improve the role of technology in people’s daily lives.