# Will Napier

> Design Engineer, London, United Kingdom. Imagination without engineering remains speculative, and engineering without imagination remains incremental. The work I’m most interested in sits between the two.

Contact: hey@willnapier.co · https://github.com/willnap · https://www.linkedin.com/in/wpn

Site: https://willnapier.co/

## Work

- SALTEYE, Autonomous Research Buoy for the Great Salt Lake, 2023. Black-and-white render of SALTEYE: a sphere of spiralling chrome bands with its mechanical core visible inside, floating half-submerged in still water with mountains and cloud behind. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-water-2000.b7442d552c.avif)
- 3PV, Installed in the Gallery, University of Utah, 2022. Green-tinted view through a concrete opening down a long university gallery, where five white panels of 3PV drawings stand in a row with the white headset on a plinth at their centre. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/3pv-board-gallery-2000.d589be4a45.avif)
- Experiments with Vision Pro, Park City, Utah, 2025. The F-50, a red open-cab pickup on oversized tyres, placed in augmented reality on a paved trail outside Park City at sunset. The camera walks around it as low sun flares through the trees. [Video](https://willnapier.co/v/f50-trail.9b78f297b8.mp4)
- Artist Residency, Domaine de Boisbuchet, France, 2022. On the lawn of the château at Domaine de Boisbuchet, a small crowd watches a woman in white pose in the doorway at the top of the front steps, which are scattered with bright pink objects. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/boisbuchet-960.c57977a1f1.avif)
- Scrutiny of Natural Systems, 2022. A natural surface under extreme magnification: rippled salmon-pink tissue with black blotches spreading up from below, like ink dropped in water. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/dragonfruit-flesh-2000.bed20cf295.avif)
- Countertop Drink Maker from a Modified 3D Printer, Gaussian Splat, 2023. Black-and-white Gaussian-splat capture of a countertop drink maker built from a modified 3D printer: a dark cylindrical hood on a slanted concrete base, with a small tin beside it. The camera starts in the real kitchen, then drifts around the machine through the smeared, reconstructed room. [Video](https://willnapier.co/v/soylent-splat.5129914bf2.mp4)
- SALTEYE, Exploded View, 2023. Exploded render of SALTEYE on dark stone with every part labelled: a 3D-printed hull with toroidal propellers, a copper water-cooled compute core, a solar panel, sensors for mercury, pH and air quality, a camera, GPS and 5G antennas, and the ribbed chrome shell. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-exploded-2000.d2c2fbbafa.avif)
- Language Oriented Operating System, Dyson School × Huawei, 2025. A hand holding the small detached half of Split. Its screen shows a morning briefing in bold serif type, with coloured highlights for events, messages, deliveries and the weather. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/split-hand-2000.0d82d5e330.avif)
- SALTEYE, Shell Form Studies, 2023. Grey renders of the shell forms SALTEYE went through, ringed, ribbed, finned and slatted spheres, with early sketches and plots fading in at the left. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-progression-2000.a72991ab79.avif)
- 3PV, Electronics Under Dyed Acrylic, 2022. A phone battery and circuit board seen through overlapping sheets of green-dyed acrylic inside 3PV. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/3pv-board-inside-2000.f8aa40ff77.avif)
- F-50, Studio Render, 2025. Side view of the F-50 on a white studio background: a glossy red open-cab pickup with oversized tyres, chrome wheels and a tan leather seat. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/f50-studio-2000.1be808d418.avif)
- Porcupine Bench, Bears Ears Education Center, Bluff, Utah, 2022. Dimensioned construction drawing of the Porcupine Bench, a slatted wooden box frame with round teal handles, shown in section, in plan and in two isometric views. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/porcupine-bench-2000.ca55d07561.avif)
- Supergreen, Copper Capsule and Chainmail, Royal College of Art, 2025. A matte copper capsule lying on green cloth, looped in a long ribbon of interlocking 3D-printed copper chainmail. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/supergreen-capsule-1600.e235606143.avif)
- The Great Salt Lake Is Dying, 2023. Black-and-white satellite map of the Great Salt Lake with its 1985 extent painted in torn orange over the shrunken 2023 shoreline, lettered The Great Salt Lake Is Dying, with the newly exposed lakebed marked. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-dying-map-2000.9976a6a16b.avif)
- Copper, Conversational Computer for Refugees, Giving Turn-by-Turn Directions, International Rescue Committee, 2023. Three stacked, hand-formed copper discs buckled into a car seat by its seat belt. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/copper-car-2000.559c68fe08.avif)
- Experiments with NASA Chainmail and 3D Printed Copper, 2025. Cream wireframe drawing of a navy capsule on a pale cream ground, both ends crowned with clusters of chainmail rings. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/supergreen-render-1600.8a1b055d37.avif)
- Copper Wallet, 2023. A copper card tray with a weathered green-grey edge, holding a stack of cards under a black elastic band, a lime-green debit card on top, beside a car key on a white shelf. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/copper-wallet-2000.9fd007074b.avif)
- F-50, Suburban Renaissance, 2025. Render of the F-50, a red pickup on oversized tyres with a chrome grille, parked at the edge of a cracked country road between green fields under a cloudy sky. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/f50-road-2000.c55cc08206.avif)
- iPhone/Freedom, Stealth, 2026. A tall phone home screen painted like a canvas: dense autumn trees in rust, gold, cream and lilac, with a row of round icons near the top. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/freedom-2000.3faa6c182d.avif)
- PatriotVoice™, with Sarunas Berinas, 2025. The PatriotVoice harness on a white backdrop: looped tan leather straps with steel buckles and bolts, and a white moulded mouthpiece. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/pv-object-1600.02009600c1.avif)
- Split, with Archana Merla, Lisa Nana, Luke Hale and Vamsi Madhav Tata, Huawei, 2025. Two hands pulling Split apart. The small octagonal top half, showing the day’s briefing and a clock, slides up out of the black lower body. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/split-hands-2000.6630c3da99.avif)
- SALTEYE, Working Prototype on Show, University of Utah, 2023. Black-and-white photo of the SALTEYE prototype on show: a lit glass dome inside a striped shell sits in a clear bowl between white 3D-printed shell studies, in front of a framed photo of the Great Salt Lake and a print of the exploded render. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-show-2000.d0bccffa32.avif)
- Sunflower Display, in Studio, 2022. The Sunflower Display, a screen in a thick white rounded bezel on a steel arm, glowing above an empty workshop bench at night, with a laptop at its foot and drafting lamps all around. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/desk-monitor-2000.add523641b.avif)
- 3PV, Apparatus and Brace, 2022. Mint-green render of the 3PV apparatus: a triangular frame of green tubing and a black cord loop over white spheres, above a green ring crossed by a diagonal bar. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/3pv-board-brace-2000.a91cd0ca40.avif)
- Jordanelle Reservoir Through a Printed Relief, Utah, 2021. A round, crumpled white relief with fine printed brushstroke texture, carrying a view of the Jordanelle Reservoir in blue water, purple hills and a bright green shore. Soft patches of lilac, lime and blue light drift across it. [Video](https://willnapier.co/v/relief-light.707c87e0d4.mp4)
- SALTEYE, Pleading with Passing Hikers, 2023. Black-and-white page: three ribbed chrome SALTEYE spheres floating in a lake below a mountain, seen past blurred hikers, above a short text on SALTEYE pleading for the shrinking Great Salt Lake with tones and flashing lights. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-trio-2000.480d5fcf76.avif)
- Snake Lamp, Utah Design Exhibit, 2022. The Snake Lamp, a thick cream tube coiled into a spiral and glowing from within, on a wooden table in the dark. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/snake-lamp-2000.caa3f02e63.avif)
- CodexBar Redesign, Open Source, 2026. The redesigned CodexBar menu bar app in use: a panel of ring gauges showing AI coding spend and token use for four accounts in orange and blue, usage charts beneath, and the pointer switching between Day, Week and Month. [Video](https://willnapier.co/v/codexbar.52ab979e9d.mp4)
- Split, Front and Back, 2025. Split from front and back: the pale octagonal back with a single camera, beside the small detached half sliding from its sleeve, showing the briefing with the date and a clock. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/split-frontback-2000.45069dfc07.avif)
- Evolv, Kiosk of the Future, Royal College of Art, 2024. The Evolv toy box at the Kiosk of the Future show: a white box covered in red, yellow and blue blobs with a window onto a sculpted toy, labelled New Toy Every Week and Ages 1–3, beside its printed exhibit card on a cardboard table. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/evolv-kiosk-1600.882681e966.avif)
- Throw-to-Send Email Signup, Stealth, 2026. The throw-to-send signup page: a 3D potato floats in a painted sky under the words Escape the Enshittocene. An email address is typed onto its skin, the send button appears, the potato is thrown up and away, and Thanks, we’ll be in touch takes its place. [Video](https://willnapier.co/v/potato-send.9b79c3c4d5.mp4)
- 3PV, Print-Formed Concrete Brace, 2022. Magnified grey 3D-printed concrete: fine vertical layer lines and scattered dark air pockets, with the board’s small label running up the left edge. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/3pv-board-concrete-2000.37839f64b0.avif)
- SALTEYE, Side Elevation, 2023. Side elevation render of SALTEYE on black: the sphere’s striped chrome bands, with a dome of clear glass at its face on the left. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/salteye-side-2000.e2adac5185.avif)
- The Crushing Weight of Life Under a Spire, with Jake Schlaf and Kiernan Grissom, 2023. From above: an Arduino rig of glowing blue LEDs, breadboards and red and blue wiring under clear acrylic on black webbing straps, beside a printed page of red data plots and photos for The Crushing Weight of Life Under a Spire. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/spire-board-2000.578c172e18.avif)
- Split, Coming Apart, 2025. Split in three steps: the whole phone with its briefing screen and app buttons, the dark sleeve with the top half lifting off, and the small half alone showing the briefing. [Image](https://willnapier.co/i/split-progression-2000.19f2b82dc1.avif)

## Studied

- 2026: MSc Innovation Design Engineering, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London
- 2026: MA Innovation Design Engineering, Royal College of Art
- 2024: BS Multidisciplinary Design, College of Architecture + Planning, University of Utah
- 2017–20: Computer Science, Utah Valley University
- 2019: Software Engineering Intensive, Codesmith, Los Angeles

## Recognition

- 2026: IDE Summer Show 2026, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London
- 2026: RCA2026, the Royal College of Art graduate show, London
- 2025: IDE Summer Show 2025, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London
- 2025: Near Future HMI Design Awards, Huawei: Runner-Up, Phase 2, for Split
- 2025: Near Future HMI Design Awards, Huawei: Award for Prototyping, Phase 1, for Split
- 2025: Supergreen, Regenerative Materials, Structures & Aesthetics Exhibition, Royal College of Art
- 2024: Kiosk of the Future, Transdisciplinary Practices Exhibition, Royal College of Art
- 2024: Collaborative Practice Award, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture: Bears Ears Education Center Outdoor Classroom (contributing designer)
- 2023: Utah State Legislature: SALTEYE included in House and Senate discussions on the Great Salt Lake
- 2023: First Place, Hacked Printer Fair, Prototyping Methods, University of Utah
- Exhibitor, Refugee Resettlement Design Show: Copper
- Featured Guest, International Rescue Committee Tech Podcast
- 2022: Selected Designer, 5th Annual Utah Design Exhibit, Clubhouse SLC
- 2022: Featured in PIN–UP: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment, Issue 32
- 2022: Artist in Residence, Domaine de Boisbuchet, France: Kinetic Fountain, Permanent Installation
- Featured on FOX 13 News, Salt Lake City (not affiliated with Fox News)
- Featured on Park City Television
- 2019: Speaker, Codesmith, Los Angeles

## Worked with

- 2024–: Stealth
- 2025–26: Specs (Snap Inc.), Royal College of Art collaboration
- 2024–26: Huawei, industry collaboration on Split
- 2022–24: International Rescue Committee, research partnership on Copper
- 2022–23: Bears Ears Partnership and Bureau of Land Management, Visit With Respect
- 2019–20: OSLabs, open-source developer tooling (Preducks)