The Need for Speed From a young age, engineer Mike Gruizinga has been fascinated with speed and racing. What began as a keen interest in motocross, quickly developed into a love of racing cars. Mike has sported several vehicles in the past, including a beefed up Geo Metro, to fulfill his endurance racing dreams in the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series. His current ride, a gray 1984 Nissan 300zx Turbo, has become his main

Global Innovation Awards We are excited to celebrate the accomplishments of our very own Eve Berndt at the Global Innovation Awards! Eve, along with two other students, designed a system of products called ReFresh for their Senior Thesis project at MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design), aspiring to introduce a more sustainable, eco-friendly approach to grocery shopping. Working together to identify the need within the industry and create the Refresh system, they each picked

Tekna Awarded Wonderful Workplace 2019 By Sarah Hollingsworth Tekna was selected by 269 Magazine as one of Southwest Michigan’s Wonderful Workplaces. This award celebrates the outstanding efforts made by local businesses in the region who build culture and create a great place to work. The article, released in their 2019 Holiday issue, focused on our culture of authenticity. “The space—with ceilings high enough to allow for an airplane to be suspended above the design team—leaves

Being the First Supply Chain Intern By Brandon Peterson, Supply Chain Intern When it came time to look for a summer internship, I really wanted to find something that would help me explore the various aspects of supply chain management. With that in mind, I felt like interning for a larger scale company wouldn’t be ideal because I would likely be limited to a narrower role with fewer activities. Conversely, a smaller company like Tekna

When Life Gives You Lemons By Mike Stinchcomb, Design Engineer Intern About 2 years ago I tried to shoe ski down a huge, snowy, slick hill on my way to class (as any college kid would), which resulted in me falling pretty hard on some ice. After my fall, I experienced sharp and persistent pain in my hip. I saw a few doctors who were having trouble finding the root of the problem. I went

A Holistic Approach By Eve Berndt, Industrial Design Intern Looking at the bigger picture has always been a tendency of mine. I’ve shaped who I am today, in part, because of my inclination to question ideals, motives, and systems around me. I think it’s a big part of what drew me to industrial design—I love the discussion around what makes a well-designed product. I love the questioning. But more so, I love following the process

Operation Birdhouse – Summer 2019 By Summer 2019 Interns: Eve Berndt, Lauren Maksymiuk, and Mike Stinchcomb During the first few weeks of our internship, we heard talk of an intern project and a running joke about how the birdhouse is coming along. Around our last month at Tekna, we were given the project brief–operation birdhouse. The mission was to create a birdhouse for the back patio—but not just any old birdhouse. They wanted something exciting

Not Your Average Graphic Design Internship By Lauren Maksymiuk, Graphic Design Intern Before I had even heard of Tekna, the last month of my semester was spent researching and applying for internships at graphic design studios. Up until that point, my experience was limited to branding, marketing, and some web design. When I came across Tekna’s internship opportunity, I was intrigued. Coming in for the interview and taking a quick tour of the space left