241 - Pirijan Ketheswaran

Pirijan Ketheswaran is a designer, engineer, illustrator, and (sometimes) artist. He was previously the co-creator of Glitch, the friendly place where everyone builds the web.

He is now the creator of Kinopio, a spatial thinking tool for building new ideas and solving hard problems.

Twitter → twitter.com/pketh

This is his current travel setup in Hoboken, NJ where he is working for a couple weeks before traveling back to Canada.

Tools (short term setup):

• LG 5k monitor
• Apple Mac Mini M1
• Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2 (very yellowed because it's 10+ years old)
• Logitech G Pro X Superlight mouse
• Apple trackpad (which I basically only use for swiping between desktop spaces)
• Hanaduri paper notebooks
• Sakura Pigment Sensei art pens
• Seiko Olympic Clock (QHL062Y)

Tools (long term setup):

• Apple XDR Display
• My other Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2, inside a Norbauer Heavy Grail case

What is your favorite item in your workspace?

That would easily be one of my two keyboards. I bought them both (one for the office and one for home) when I started my career and I think it's really cool that they're just as nice to use now as they were before. Last year I upgraded one of them with a pink 'sunset' Norbauer heavy grail case (https://shop.norbauer.com/products/the-heavy-grail-hhkb-housing) and I love how it makes something as mundane and everyday as typing feel like an event.

How do you spark creativity?

Nothing gets me to a computer like frustration. Frustration after using a bad product that I think could be better, or frustration with a bug in my own work. I'm pulled along a riptide of trying to make interesting, intriguing, and fun software tools and toys.

How do you manage work-life balance?

I'm quite bad at that but having a desktop computer and not a laptop really helps. Even though my desk is in my living room, I know when I'm sitting at my desk that it's time for work, and when I'm not ... well then usually I'm not. If I could find a way to get of my phone then I'd be golden.

What do you think is the main benefit of remote work?

As one of the relatively few people who did remote work before the pandemic, I've always liked the freedom of it. Done right, it lets you weave work into your life, rather than the other way around. Done wrong ... well then it's a nightmare. Unfortunately, not all companies and not all remote work situations are created equal.