I build direction in uncertain terrain. 

Hi, I’m Thom Luke, an industrial designer, founder, and PhD researcher, working at the intersection of frontier hardware, future mobility, and generative AI. 

My work lives upstream, where the brief is messy, the stakes are real, and the team needs conviction fast. I translate ambiguity into decision-ready concepts, prototypes, and fundable narratives, bridging research, design and engineering so progress doesn’t stall.

Australian | Bay Area, CA | Melbourne, VIC

My lens
The PhD research I am conducting looks at how GenAI is reshaping radical innovation during the metaproject phase of new product development, in particular, how the people inside organisations who interpret signal and shape meaning, decide what to build.

In practice, GenAI is a lever. It accelerates exploration, sharpens comparisons, and helps teams converge faster, but it only works when it’s paired with taste, intent, and a strong framing of the problem. 

My origin
I founded my consultancy Threshold Design at 22 and grew up in the deep end of real delivery; clients, constraints, suppliers, timelines, and the uncomfortable gap between concept and reality. That mix of strategy and hands-on making is still my edge. I can talk vision in the morning and pressure-test feasibility in the afternoon. 

Outside the studio

I fly aerobatics, ski off big moutains, take photographs, make electronic music and travel the world. 

I love to spend time in the kinds of environments that remind me what real life looks and feels like. It keeps my taste sharp and feeling alive.  

Now
I am actively exploring exciting opportunities to design the future. If you’re building frontier hardware, evtols, next generation mobility or something else and you need someone who can shape direction early and make momentum stick, let’s talk.

Australian, living between San Francisco, CA and Melbourne, VIC.