Hi, I’m Sofia Limena, a sophomore persuing a degree in Industrial Design at Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Business Administration.
I’m a multidisciplinary designer obsessed with culture, having grown up in cities across the United States and Europe, my favourite designs are the ones that become a part of, and shake up the cultural zeitgeist.
I take this into my own design practice, with bold (sometimes provocative) visuals, thoughtful modular systems and tongue-in-cheek storytelling.
Outside of work, you can find me lamenting about the Chelsea Hotel, tattooing or adding another book to my “Want to Read” queue on Goodreads.
Resume
Flow Form Spatula, Object Study for Carnegie Mellon University
Project Prompt:
From a predetermined piece of wood (12” x 3” x 4”) produce one elegantly abstracted curvilinear form that extends the hand to facilitate scraping, lifting, and flipping.
Timeline
October 2025 -November 2025,
Four Weeks
New Skills Learned
Band Saw
Disk Sander
Belt Sander
Oscillating Spindle Sander
Various Hand Files
Materials & Tools
Ash Wood
Tooling Board Foam
Pink Insulation Foam
Bondo
Gray Primer
Sculpted Sides WallsThe spatula’s sides transition from vertical 90° edges to gentle undulations, visually and physically reinforcing the sense of flow.Spatula’s Blade
The blade is subtly angled leftwards, to align with the natural scraping motion of a right hand along a pot’s walls toward the body, reinforcing a clear sense of affordance.
Ergonomic FitA combination of fileted and hard edges aligns with the natural creases of the palm and fingers, providing a secure grip and comfortable hand-feel.Thumb Indentation
A subtle thumb indentation provides extra leverage when scraping, facillitating wrist movement and extending the sense of flow into the arm.
Sketches
Side and top orthographic profiles were ideated and lofted together, defining the spatula’s three-dimensional geometry. Given limited opportunities for physical prototyping, these drawings were essential in resolving and anticipating the form prior to fabrication. I drew inspiration from natural and manmade flow forms, particulalry mushroom gills (lamellae), which have subtle undulations, to maximise surface area for spore production within it’s compact underside, and the K Chair by Reynold Rodriguez, with hand-carved transitional edges from charred almendro wood.
Foam Prototyping
With only two opportunities for physical prototyping before deciding on the final form, the concept was primarily resolved through sketching, requiring deliberate and calculated changes between iterations.The orthographic sketches were taped onto foam block and trace-cut using a bandsaw, establishing primary forms. The first pink foam model tested the feasibility of the orthographic profiles but felt fragile and uncomfortable in the hand.
Revised sketch profiles informed the second iteration, improving ergonomics and enabling exploration of transitions between fillets and hard edges, while the third model consolidated these findings into a resolved form.
1. The first pancake so to speak, introduced dimensionality but needed lots of work
2. Improved handle ergonomics, explored transitional edges and curves
3. Decided on final form, removed unecessary filets and aligned edges to hand to
Manufacturing
Prior to manufacturing, process drawings were developed to map each stage of fabrication, enabling consistent replication across drastically different materials and ensuring familiarity with tools and procedures. Final models were fabricated in grey foam and basswood—materials with notably different properties—where these drawings proved essential. They were first cut on the bandsaw then shaped by hand into flow forms, considering filets and rounded edges.
Manufacturing Mistakes
Attempting to translate identical geometry across materials revealed how material properties directly affect form and fidelity, where the grey foam was forgiving, the wood demanded greater force and precision. I worked slowly, positioned the foam model parallel in my feild of view, to ensure consistency while hand-filing the wood, but still unintentionally flattened parts of the wood final.
Outcome
During critique, feedback noted that the thumb indentation felt disruptive to the side-profile’s flow, however, removing it would have compromised the handle’s ergonomic performance. This reinforced a key learning that form and function are often in direct negotiation, and effective design requires intentional prioritization between the two.
Sofia Limena © 2026