Selected work · venture · hardware
A photographer’s carry problem became a new kind of company. We rebuilt an $18B category with AI and on-demand additive manufacturing — a fully managed venture at a $20M+ valuation.
The call
A highly regarded photographer called to describe a daily frustration: moving from shoot to shoot with a cobbled-together collection of bags and cases for her expensive gear, and the struggle of getting from one location to another — even when the next setup was only twenty or thirty feet away. What she was describing is a problem most creative professionals face, especially the ones carrying five and six figures of equipment: filmmakers, audio and sound technicians, drone operators, and the like.
What we built
What started as a challenge to build a better stackable case became a brand called Tyo. The Tyo Work System is a beautifully engineered, 3D-printed case system whose cases connect and distribute power to the accessories inside each one, and it is infinitely customizable through a rail system that lets every owner build their own setup and workflow. It saves the average professional more than $25,000 a year in gear that would otherwise be lost, misplaced, or damaged.
The brand
We designed the full brand world — the name, the mark, the voice, and the pre-order experience at mytyo.com. The register is quiet and confident: a warm espresso field, one ivory serif line, and a single gold mark that does the talking.
Move Everything. Carry Nothing.
The world’s finest worksystem™
the worksystem, in the fieldHow we make it
The most exciting part is how we make it. We leveraged AI and additive manufacturing to create an on-demand print capability that removes the traditional barriers to entry in what has been a fairly boring industry. There are no minimum order quantities, no complicated international shipping logistics, and no expensive inventory to carry.
A hub-and-spoke atelier model prints each order in a regional facility close to the customer — which compresses delivery to about seven days, holds inventory at zero, and keeps both the margin and the carbon footprint where they belong.
None of this is outsourced guesswork. We run a fully equipped physical prototyping lab and work with a dedicated product-engineering partner, so a product like Tyo moves from sketch to a functional, manufacturable prototype in-house — the industrial design, the tooling, and the print process developed together rather than handed between vendors.
Color & branding
Because every case is printed to order, color and branding stop being a warehouse problem. Finish, accent color, and co-branding are chosen per unit — so a photographer, a label exec, and a documentary crew each carry a system that looks like theirs, not like stock.
Professional photographer
Artist manager · label exec
Studio · color suite
Field · documentary
The third advantage
Additive printing does something a factory can’t: it lets the owners design the product. Tyo’s Design Lab is a creator marketplace built into the app. Anyone can submit an accessory — a sketch, a photo, a paragraph. The cohort votes each month, the top three every quarter go into production, and the designer earns a royalty for as long as their part ships. Demand and supply become the same motion.
Tyo app · Design Lab
by Sarah K.
by Marcus T.
by Alex R.
Outcome
In its first year, Tyo reached a $20M+ valuation on more than $4.5M in pre-orders — a fully managed venture that Modven designed, branded, engineered, and now runs, producing on demand with zero inventory and roughly seven-day delivery.
A carry problem became a category. The interesting part isn’t the case — it’s that we can print it, near you, without a factory.
Every engagement begins the same way: one paid conversation, one written brief, one clear answer about the edge worth building.