*ON THE ROAD — NOT ACCEPTING GUESTS UNTIL 15th OCT*

Hi, I'm a design researcher and potter curently (mostly) based in Southeast Asia.

I love making everything from scratches.

Last year, I quit my 9-5 job at a design non-profit in the open source and public-interest tech space for a 50% nomad %50 homebody kind of lifestyle — Parts of me wishing I was at home tending to vegetabales, sewing my own clothes, and making everything in my cupboard out of clay on my wheel; parts of my keep yearning for those long-distance hiking trips in the moutains. Being near 30s has been quite confusing.

I normally travel for 3 reasons: hiking, kendo competition, and work. I'm not much of a city visitor, though lately as my interest in indoor climbing gets more intense, I don't mind dropping by big cities to do my newly discovered routine—gym tour—hopefully gain some upper body strength before I head to the oudoors for some real rocks.

Next on my to-do list:

- The Annapurna Trail
- Throw a 15lb pot
- Make it to the National Team for the next World Kendo Championship

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Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I haven't used Couchsurfing in a while, but I really enjoyed it when I did. I'm always up for a good story and love meeting interesting people.

Interests

Pottery — I love how much there is an infinite number of things to learn about

Kendo — which is the Japanese sword fighting martial arts —  has been my life-long 'interest'. It was the only thing that was constant in my life and it's taught me a lot about living.

Bouldering — I have just started indoor climbing last December 2023 and I'm very invested haha

Embroidery — just because

• photography
• reading
• pottery
• bouldering
• hiking
• kendo
• community building
• embroidery
• making things
• sewing clothes
• decolonial design
• design cultures
• design anthropology
• distributed tech
• design histories
• vietnamese ceramic history

Music, Movies, and Books

I mostly listen to post-rock and indie folk. Sometimes I venture into jazz (live) and classical.

My favorite authors are Banana Yoshimoto and bell hooks.

Others include: Audre Lorde, Françoise Vergès, Georges Perec, Michel de Certeau, Walter Benjamin, and Ben Highmore.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Took shelter behind a big boulder under a freaky hailstorm at 2300m+ on the TMB, part scared part overly-excited

Ate food from the bowls and plates that i threw, glazed, and fired for the first time

Dumpster dived and camp fired on my backyard with my chosen family in Dessau

Shared my decolonial journey on a (big and very lit-up) stage in front 400+ people in Copenhagen, yes, it was terrifying

Experienced a slow-motion vision of my opponent in an intense semi-final kendo match and scored a kote

Quit my 9-5 job (!)

Teach, Learn, Share

I love learning and picking up new skills.

Currently learning Japanese, how to sew, watercoloring, no-till premacutlure farming, gardening, and making bigggg pots.

I prefer the frame of sharing and co-learning over teaching. There are a few subjects that I'm confident in: documentary film-making, secure and responsible UX research, how to start on the wheel, basic film and photo editing, how to make Vietnamese spring roll orJapanese savoury pancake/okonomiyaki (I worked at the EU's first okonomiyaki restaurant back when I was a student in the UK=D) )

What I Can Share with Hosts

Other than tips and things I pick up from my travel, I am a responsible guest, always happy to cook, clean, and land a hand when needed ☺

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, Germany, Japan, United States, Viet Nam