Hi, I’m Alain.
Product Designer using design thinking to understand what users think, feel, and do, then design and build the answer, with AI as a partner.
About Me
There’s a Korean drama I think about a lot. It’s called “Late Night Restaurant”. A tiny place tucked into a Seoul alley, open from midnight to seven in the morning. The owner is just called Master. He serves simple food to people coming in off the street, carrying whatever they’re carrying that night. He listens. He doesn’t try to fix anyone or give them advice. He just makes the food and pays attention.
What I find intriguing is not the recipes, not the restaurant or its patrons but the attention. Master shows up the same way every night, not with grand gestures or profound advice, but with presence and care.
I think that’s the part of me that I’m drawn to, the instinct to pay attention. To listen for what’s actually being asked for. To make the thing that serves what the moment needs.
Whether it’s a warm meal at three in the morning or a tool that understands you, we’re all just trying to get through life with a little more confidence and a lot more care.
I love drinking specialty coffee. Pour-overs that take three minutes to make and ruin you for every other coffee. If you ever end up in Kyoto, Kurasu is worth the walk. Asia’s coffee culture is, as my kids would say, fire.
On Sundays I run the coffee bar at my church. Ok, it’s a cart. But don’t let the wheels fool you: this little beast packs a two-group machine and a pro grinder, the same gear you’d find in any specialty coffee shop. Best of all, I get to inspire and teach twenty-two people how to pull a proper shot, steam milk into silk, and whisk matcha that doesn’t taste like wheatgrass from one of those smoothie joints.
No offense to smoothie joints.
