Simone Giertz’s journey from robot comedy to high-end design

FLORA LICHTMAN: Hey, it’s Flora, and you’re listening to Science Friday. There’s no shortage of YouTube how-to videos. There’s the practical DIY ones where someone walks you through how they fixed the sliding doors on their minivan. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are the makers, people who have an idea in their head, sometimes quixotic, and show their process of bringing it to reality. In the 2010s, inventor Simone Giertz began making videos kind of right on that dividing line between practical and absurd, like, what if you had a robot that could feed you soup?

SIMONE GIERTZ: 3D printed all these parts because you can’t get a claw that needs to pick up soup just like that.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Or a robot that could cut your veggies for you.

SIMONE GIERTZ: The chopping machine is a revolutionary invention that helps you chop just about anything. Chop lettuce, the neighbor’s cat that pees on your lawn, tomatoes.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Or a drone that could cut your hair.

SIMONE GIERTZ: We duct taped a trimmer to the bottom of it, and this is a very bad idea.

FLORA LICHTMAN: The projects grew more and more ambitious, like converting a Tesla sedan into a pickup truck way before the Cybertruck was even a glint in Elon’s eye. Fast forward to today, and remember, 10 years in YouTube years is like 200 regular world years, and Simone is still creating, now designing and building inventions that are still quirkily useful, like a fruit bowl that changes sizes depending on the fruit that’s in it, but that also look like something you’d find in a high-end design store.

Simone Giertz is with me now to talk about making, creating, and her path. Thanks for being here, and hello.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Hi. Oh my god, what a lovely intro. I can’t believe I’m 200 in YouTube years.

FLORA LICHTMAN: That’s a compliment, obviously.

SIMONE GIERTZ: No, it’s great. I thoroughly enjoy being ancient.

FLORA LICHTMAN: I mean, millions of people have been watching your videos with delight for more than a decade, but I wasn’t sure how to introduce you to people who’ve missed out.

I mean, how do you think about yourself? Are you an influencer who makes things? Are you an inventor or a designer who happens to have a YouTube feed?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah, I mean, I take a lot of pride in not being able to neatly fit into any category. But yeah, it is a little bit messy to explain what I do. I think if I don’t want to talk about it a lot, I just say that I’m an engineer, which I didn’t really study engineering in school. But usually that ends people’s questions. But I think the most accurate description is YouTuber and inventor and maybe product designer.

FLORA LICHTMAN: That adds up. I mean, how do you pick your projects?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Most of my projects start with a problem that I have in my everyday life, so I think I just have a tremendous amount of pet peeves with my objects, and I’m always like, why can’t you do this? I just think that I want them to do more or to pull their weight, and I’m basically like the terrible parent that’s like, why can’t you do all the things?

FLORA LICHTMAN: Piano lessons for you, toaster.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah. No, totally. It’s like, why aren’t you also playing me a song? So a lot of it is just little frictions I have in my life, or little eyesores and just trying to think of like, how could I do this differently?

And I think what’s really fun about that and what I really enjoy about it is like seeing the world around me as malleable and that all the objects we have around us, somebody made them up. And you can be one of the people who make objects up. So I think I just like looking at things and seeing how I could make them different and really wanting to add a unique spin to them.

FLORA LICHTMAN: And believing that you can, that you can make things better.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah, and I mean, that is where the 10 years come in. I’ve been at this for a long time, and I think that my trust in myself has increased a lot. So that is really, really nice. And the projects that I’m taking on now, I would never have dared to take on a couple of years ago.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Let’s talk about one of them. You unveiled this chair that you’ve been working on that’s designed for me personally. It’s designed to hold half dirty laundry.

SIMONE GIERTZ: No, actually, I have your photos posted all over the workshop. I’m just like–

FLORA LICHTMAN: Well, thank you.

SIMONE GIERTZ: –what does Flora need? Yeah.

FLORA LICHTMAN: This does feel a very common problem, and I loved how you talked about it because you said, as you unveiled it, that you’re designing not for our best day but for our normal day. Is that the design philosophy in a nutshell.

SIMONE GIERTZ: To an extent, I think that the design philosophy is very messy because I’m interested in a lot of different things. But I really like that aspect instead of– it’s so easy to just beat ourselves up and be like, why can’t I be neater and cleaner? Why can’t I always fold my clothes and put them away? But instead just accepting that life isn’t perfect and designing for that, there’s just something very loving about it.

So the chair is basically a chair that has a rail for your half-dirty clothes. So instead of having your chair buried under a pile of like the t-shirt that you’ve only worn once and you don’t want to put it back in a drawer but you don’t want to throw it in the hamper because it’s not fully dirty, it gives those clothing items a proper home.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Which is like, yeah, it is a problem that I feel like many of us have. I mean, you made a name for yourself as the queen of [BLEEP] robots. And yes, we’re going to bleep it because it’s not my adjective. It’s basically your trademark for yourself.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Oh gosh. Yeah, it was a choice. It was a choice.

FLORA LICHTMAN: It is a choice. But do you feel like you’ve graduated from [BLEEP] robots?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah, so I started out building– it was kind of like robot comedy. And I would make these useless inventions. And it was always robots that would be really poorly engineered or just way too violent for the job that I was giving them. And I did that for many years, and I was thriving in it.

And it was such a great way for me to be able to create without getting in my own way because, if I had set out to build something that was perfect, I would never have gotten anything done. So it lowered the bar enough for me to dare to try. And especially as somebody who’s self-taught and who wanted to build robots, for me to build something sophisticated wasn’t really in the books for me. But I could definitely build a robot that throws soup in my face.

But then the cool thing about doing things on YouTube is that you grow and you change as a person. And I went through some really tough things. I had a brain tumor, went through brain surgery, and just changed a lot as a human and grew up. And I realized also that my skill set was really, really different from when I started because I started to actually become good at building things. So I wanted to try to tackle real problems.

FLORA LICHTMAN: I mean, is there a through line from the robots to the fancy chair?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah, for sure. I think through line is unique solutions. So when I built robots then it was uniquely bad, but it was still a novel take on a somewhat relatable situation or relatable problem. And now I want it to be unique but good. And I think the joy is still there. So yeah, it feels very different, but I think that there’s definitely more commonalities with it than people think.

FLORA LICHTMAN: You converted the Tesla sedan to a truck.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yes.

FLORA LICHTMAN: That seems like a major project. That’s a different realm than a robot that feeds you soup. Does it take a village? I mean, was it a solo pursuit? Or how did it work?

SIMONE GIERTZ: That one definitely took a village. That was an entire team of people and project managers and engineers and mechanics. So that one was definitely a village.

And I think in the beginning of my career, I was so adamant about doing everything myself– I would put in every screw myself and do everything because I think I was so ready for people to question that I had actually built it. So I was very much on the defense in that way, and I wanted to make sure that people wouldn’t be like, oh, no, but you didn’t actually do that, like some guy probably built that for you.

And so I really did that a lot. But now I’m further in my career, and I feel more comfortable in my skill set and what I know. I definitely get more help. And for the product business that I’m running, we have an entire team of people and that I will pull in to do things as well. So it’s much more collaborative now than it was in the beginning.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Did you encounter that online, people being like, oh, young lady, there’s no way you made that?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Honestly, a lot less than I thought I would. I was so ready for vitriol. I was so ready for, yeah, people to question me and question my skill set and be like, you didn’t actually do that.

I remember I saw a comment of somebody saying that I was a plant from Discovery Channel, which I thought was really funny.

[LAUGHTER]

Just really, you think that this is what they would opt to do? But no, I feel like I was so ready to not be welcomed. And then I was really welcomed.

And I’m a woman on the internet who is in a very male-dominated field. The sad fact is that I run the world’s largest female-led Engineering YouTube channel.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Wow.

SIMONE GIERTZ: And it’s honestly been really, really great. I’ve been very, very fortunate in that people have been a lot nicer than I expected them to.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Like we noted at the top, 10 years YouTube time is a lot of years. Do you feel like you know the secret to longevity online?

SIMONE GIERTZ: I think the secret to longevity, I mean, at least for me, it’s being genuinely excited about what I’m doing. So I think it’s just making content that you want. So many people think about– and I think this goes for a lot of areas of business, is you’re so concerned thinking about the target audience that you lose out on the most important target audience, which is yourself.

And I think I both build and make videos mostly for myself. And it’s like, do I think it’s good? Do I think it’s worth watching? Do I think this product is worth buying? And I think as soon as I would lose sight of that, I think things would start deteriorating from there.

FLORA LICHTMAN: We have to take a break, but don’t go away because, when we come back, I want you to build something for me.

SIMONE GIERTZ: OK.

FLORA LICHTMAN: I want you to solve my problems.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Happy to.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

FLORA LICHTMAN: Is there an invention you have not been able to crack? Do you have a white whale?

SIMONE GIERTZ: I think my white whales in some way are just small and infuriating. And I’m like, I’m going to get to you later. So there’s not a project where I have like, yeah, I really want to build a spaceship.

But it’s like, I’ve been wanting to make this necklace that is a roller coaster. So the necklace is kind of a choker, and you have a little roller coaster car on ball bearings that could move all the way around your neck. And that’s like, honestly, one of the most frustrating builds of my career. I just can’t pull it off because the scale is so itty bitty, and everything needs to be so smooth. So I guess it’s like a white whale, but it’s a white ant.

FLORA LICHTMAN: [LAUGHS] A tiny white minnow.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah, totally.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Is there a skill that you’re dying to pick up, like underwater welding or something like that?

SIMONE GIERTZ: It’s funny. I am in many ways such a bad learner because I’m always like, OK, I enough to get running. Stop telling me what to do.

And I’m always like, it’s the same with welding. I’m a very below-average welder, but it’s good enough for me to pull off the projects that I want to do. And I really want to spend more time investing in skills because I think also the more skills I have and the more tools I’m competent in, the more ideas I will have in that area.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Yeah, it expands your imagination.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Exactly. Yeah. I want to get into welding. I would love to get a waterjet.

FLORA LICHTMAN: What’s a waterjet?

SIMONE GIERTZ: It’s basically a machine that cuts things with water, and you can cut through really thick metal and stuff like that.

FLORA LICHTMAN: I wanted to ask how you think about AI. Do you have AI dread?

SIMONE GIERTZ: From a business perspective, I don’t really as much because I think that a personality-led content business is in some ways the best position to be in because people will look for people that they know are real. And I think that our desire to be impressed by other humans will never change.

FLORA LICHTMAN: OK, here’s where I need your help. So I was thinking about how you designed to solve problems in our everyday lives and ask more from the objects around us. And I grew up with a junk drawer. I now have a home of my own with junk drawers.

And I feel like it’s a problem for me. How would you solve the junk drawer?

SIMONE GIERTZ: I love this so much because I have one too. And somehow my criticism hasn’t reached into my junk drawer. But it’s filled with single-use chopsticks and rubber bands and napkins.

That is definitely a ripe for improvement, let’s just say that. But I don’t how I would do that because it’s hard. The benefit of the junk drawer is that it’s so dynamic and versatile, and you can put anything in there. So you could design it where it’s like, yeah, this is exactly where the keys go. But that kind of defeats the purpose of the junk drawer because it’s where you throw everything that doesn’t fit anywhere else.

FLORA LICHTMAN: If you were to take this on, what’s your method for starting? Is it like having conversations in your head about the essence of the junk drawer? Or where do you go?

SIMONE GIERTZ: My method for starting is having a glazed-over look for a while and just being like, but what if? I would really start thinking about, what is the actual problem?

If we accept the junk drawer for the job that it does, which is it collects all our bits and bobs that don’t have another home, and we wanted to have some organization to it but we still didn’t want it to be locked into that specific set of items because it fluctuates, it’s just, how can you still have an overview of what’s in there? So it might be honestly like tackling each individual problem in its own way, like having a way to have all the keys organized.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Yeah, or like an index.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah.

FLORA LICHTMAN: If I could know what’s in there without breaking into a sweat as I’m rummaging quickly when I need something, that would be helpful to me.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Yeah. OK. I’ll think about it.

FLORA LICHTMAN: Thank you. OK, Simone, where do you see yourself in 10 more YouTube years?

SIMONE GIERTZ: Oh, gosh. I mean, my plan was to not be on YouTube anymore, and that was part of why I started a product business because that would let me retire my face. But I realized in running the product business how essential the YouTube channel is because it’s what pushes me to come up with something new every month. And if I didn’t have that natural pressure and those deadlines, I don’t know if I would constantly be trying out new things.

So yeah, I would probably still be on YouTube. And I don’t know. It’s so amazing to feel like– I’m doing exactly what I want to do. And I’ve never– I feel like I’ve really met my work true love in the sense that it’s like, I have no doubt that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

And I’m sure that the types of projects I’m interested in will change. But I can’t see a future where I’m not still building things. You will have to pry that away from my dead, cold hands.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

FLORA LICHTMAN: I love that so much. Simone Giertz is an engineer, maker, YouTube creator, and founder of Giertz Studio. Simone, thank you so much for talking to us today.

SIMONE GIERTZ: Thank you so much.

FLORA LICHTMAN: This episode was produced by Charles Bergquist. If you have thoughts about how we might tinker with this podcast or a problem you think SciFri can solve for you or if you have a solution to my junk drawer problem, please call us at 877-4-SCIFRI. That’s 877-4-SCIFRI. Thanks for listening. I’m Flora Lichtman.

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