For twenty years as a mechanical engineer in aerospace and defense, I wrote software that was used to design real things. I spent two decades building the tools. Eventually I wanted to build the things myself.

I'm also a mother of five, and somewhere along the way, this stopped being just my project. Portal Lab started on my kitchen table with one printer and a simple idea: design something, print it, see if it's good. My kids were right there for it — and it turned into a space where their ideas get built too, not just mine.

If one of them comes up with something worth making, we make it. Some of it ends up in the shop. Some of it doesn't. Either way, that's the whole point of this place.

Portal Lab is what happens when twenty years of engineering meets a kitchen table full of people who like to make things.