About Us
Behind the Tech Labs is a private studio dedicated to the pursuit of craft and craftsmanship, specializing in combining tools, techniques, materials, and perspectives from different disciplines. We love making tactile things that people will use, from ceramics and furniture to bags and tools, and all points between. We also love collaborating, and have a very well-equipped space spanning two facilities in downtown Los Gatos, CA. If you’re an expert at something, and looking for folks to complement your expertise on a collaborative project, hit us up!
Kevin Scott
Kevin is the owner and proprietor of Behind the Tech Labs. Kevin is a computer scientist and engineer by training, and a lifelong tinkerer and maker. Starting with furniture projects with his father and grandfathers as a kid, Kevin has always had a deep respect for and admiration of craft and craftsmanship, and a desire to make things in order to better understand both. Among other things, Kevin is a competent woodworker, a decent machinist, a reasonable leather worker and sewist, a novice but curious bookbinder, a very nascent jeweler and metalsmith, a passable welder and metal fabricator, an increasingly capable ceramicist, an ok designer, and an expert creator of and user of digital tools. Given time and opportunity, he will try to be the maker of many other types of things before he dies. (And purely coincidently, in his day job, Kevin is CTO of Microsoft, and prior was an engineer and engineering leader at Google, AdMob, and LinkedIn.)
Asa Hillis
Asa is the manager of Behind the Tech Labs. He holds a BFA from the California College of the Arts, with a focus on furniture design. Before joining Behind the Tech Labs, Asa created custom furniture for individual clients and businesses from his studio in San Francisco. He has previously collaborated with notable figures such as Adam Savage, a special effects fabricator from the series MythBusters, and Garry Knox Bennett, a highly regarded furniture maker. Asa's primary medium is wood, but he is also experienced in metal fabrication, machining, CAD modeling, jewelry making, designing, and rapid prototyping. He is a lifelong learner who is always experimenting and discovering new skills.
Email
info@behindthetech.org
Industrial Equipment
Epilog Fusion Pro 48 Laser Cutter
Trotec SpeedMarker 300 Marking Laser
Roland LEF2-300D UV Printer
Melco EMT16X Embroidery Machine
Camoga C520L Band Knife Leather Splitter-
IPG Photonics LightWELD 1500 XR Laser Welder
Orion LZR 240 Pro Desktop Laser Welder
Sharp TMV-DVS Manual Vertical Milling Machine
12 cubic foot Blaauw Automatic Gas Ceramic Kiln
Other Equipment
Our wood shop is well-equipped with a full complement of hand and power tools for woodworking. Among other things, we have an industrial 5HP SawStop table saw, an SCM 20” Planer/Joiner combo machine, Laguna bandsaw, Jet wide belt sander, a custom router table, and variety of power sanders (disc, edge, spindle, and hand.)
Our soft goods studio is equipped with a variety of industrial sewing machines, including a Juki 1541S walking foot machine, a Durkopp Adler 669 ECO cylinder arm machine, a Durkopp Adler 888 ECO post bed machine, a Juki DDL 9000C FMS lockstitch machine, a Brother 430-HX bar tacker, and a Juki MO 6716 DA overlock machine. For leather working, we have a full complement of hand tools, and specialty equipment in addition to the Camoga splitter, including a Nippy bell skiver and Regad edging and creasing machines.
Our ceramics studio has a Skutt wheel, a Glaser Big Puddle slip table, a vacuum pug mill, a Laguna spray booth, two Skutt electric kilns (KMT-1027 and KMT-634-3), and a custom-built Blaauw gas kiln. We also have a full complement of tools for throwing, trimming, carving, and glazing.
Most of the industrial equipment sits in our machining and fabrication shop, which also has all of the supporting tools and materials that one might need.
We also have a small, but reasonably well-equipped jewelry, metal smithing, and enameling area among all of our other gear. That includes a rolling mill, an enameling kiln, ultrasonic and steam cleaners, heavy duty flex shaft rotary tool, and hand tools galore.
We try to keep our shops and studios stocked well enough that 80% of the projects you can imagine doing, you can get started from materials and parts on hand.