U-M grad's startup at Newlab combines aerospace, art, and mathematics

This month, Newlab at Michigan Central achieved a milestone. The global venture platform, which is part of Michigan Central's 30-acre innovation district, surpassed 100 startups, and it's only been open 14 months.

One University of Michigan graduate invited me behind the scenes to see how his business is unfolding literally and figuratively.

Nearly floor-to-ceiling windows bathe the lab in natural light, highlighting all sorts of cool products. Brian Ignaut is the founder of Degrees of Freedom . The company has a "goal of developing consumer-facing products that intersect the fields of aerospace, art, and mathematics."

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"It’s kind of both a relative of origami – kind of a mashup of my love for woodworking, my love for origami, and my Mom," Ignaut said about one of his products.

His first creation was a coffee table. It was a Christmas gift for his mom. She loved it so much that he got the idea to sell them, creating the startup in 2018.

“If my Mom likes it, there’s probably 10 or 20 people in the world that also like it," Ignaut said.

“She’s your test subject," I said.

"Exactly," he responded.

Turns out, more than 10 to 20 people like his work. Some videos on Instagram have racked up millions of views. His most popular, with 193 million views, is his limited-edition Apollo ring box, made from titanium, featuring a pillow wrapped in fabric from a vintage Apollo space suit.

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“The outside pattern is the topographical map of the moon taken from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter," he said. “Look very closely and there are laser-numbered landing sites for each of the Apollo missions."

He designed his first ring box to pop the question to his future wife.

“I came up with this about a month before I proposed," he said.

“In one month you designed this?” I asked.

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"Yep," he said.

I tried my hand at opening one, but it was a big counter-intuitive at first, so I asked the expert.

"The key is, so it’s a single degree of freedom mechanism. What that means is you only have to drive one joint to make the whole thing move," he said.

So, creating innovative products with a single degree of freedom – the ability to open in one fluid motion – is his goal.

He's excited to be making his headquarters at Michigan Central's Newlab because he said there's nothing like it in the country.

“The sheer scale of this facility – $10 million in prototyping equipment – CNC machines, CNC routers for a wood shop, electronic shop, 3D printing shop, metal 3D printers, plastic 3D printers, textile," he said.

“It’s your playground," I said.

All that equipment will help him make mesmerizing gifts. He dreamed up a ring holder for a friend on his wedding day, and designed a kinetic chess set for his nephew.

The spark behind it all may have come from the sun. Ignaut thrived on the internationally-acclaimed University of Michigan Solar Car team. Then, after graduation, he worked for SpaceX, designing deployable solar arrays.

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“Every single spacecraft that SpaceX launches, every satellite, every time they go to the space station, they’re all powered by solar panels. And that’s the program that I ultimately started," he said.

One of the concepts he learned was origami engineering.

“By doing interesting things with the joints, off-setting these in very particular ways, you can create the same motion as this," he said.

He also co-founded two other companies after leaving SpaceX.

“What have you not done that you still want to do?" I asked.

"Uh, I’d say like be a great father. Like raise my daughter in a thoughtful way. So, I think that was a big part for me in coming back to Michigan," he said.

Now, with his family settled here and Degrees of Freedom set up in Newlab, Ignaut has more freedom both in his professional and personal life.

He said he wants his creations to be enjoyed, and a gateway to math or science for all people. All of his products are limited runs, handmade by him. They range from $89 for a clock to $5,600 for the Apollo ring box.

He's also always working on new products. His next one is a watch box that looks like a sphere. It will launch in October.