Noah Wester makes stuff. That’s his job. He is a 3D Modeling Technician at UNeTech and, in that capacity, he designs medical devices, laboratory parts, and other objects associated with healthcare innovation. He has deep and impressive experience in 3d printing, injection molding, and other productive means of building those components. It is a wonderfully 21st century-feeling to watch as a new object starts as pixels and geometry and becomes a lump of precisely crafted plastic.

Noah’s boundless creativity could not be limited to any one medium. I’ve been told Noah makes a mean okonomiyaki. He will casually mention, as though it is a garden-variety thing to say, that he curated a Smithsonian multi-media exhibit on Jazz. Noah is an experienced therapy dog trainer, a killer DJ, and the doodles that he sketches in prototype meetings are suitable for a gallery. If you think you have a mindful approach to preparing a pot of tea, then I strongly encourage you to watch Noah do it – and then revisit your own process.  

One of the personal rewards of UNeTech is seeing the silos of human creativity break down. It is watching the scientist talk with the entrepreneur; the clinician learn from the engineer; or the artist express the big idea that binds it all together. 

And then there is Noah Wester.

Noah’s process seamlessly brings together artistic inspiration, technical mastery, and a ruthless awareness of the use case requirement. To watch Noah work is to see the boundaries between art, craft, and science dissolve into simple creativity.

It is such a joy to watch those boundaries dissolve. Noah freely discusses how his design decisions are inspired by artistic objects, how his process is inspired by generative AI, or how his choices are motivated by his love of digital design aesthetics. Still waters truly run deep, and Noah’s quiet demeanor conceals a mind that keenly processes the world around into grist for the creative mill.  If there is a bottom to the depth of Noah’s inspiration, then I have yet to see it. 

Noah’s inspiration has done far more than create objects. My original vision of his position was a project engineer: he’d handle a project from design to production to validation. Then he’d do the next one. Noah subverted my original design – by being a teacher. Noah leads teams of students to build: prototypes, models, software, processes, and anything else.  For all his skill, craft, and inspiration, Noah also had the judgment to realize he couldn’t make all the stuff by himself. Where I wanted an engineer, he made a school. And thank the almighty that so long as Noah is here – school is in session.

So what is UNeTech, Creatively? It starts with a dedication to craft and does not end in the objects we make, the words we write, or the startups we launch. A creative act achieves immortality not by what it makes, but by what it inspires. It is the eternal cycle by which an inspired creation inspires the next.