ZOWIE HENDRIKS

As a kid I was already creative and full of ideas. I wanted to be an inventor, making things that didn't exist yet. After high school I chased that instinct into Industrial Product Design at the HAN in Arnhem, where I learned how an idea turns into a real, physical product.

The programme taught me to design, but it missed the entrepreneurial side I craved. So I started my own clothing brand, AR-T Streetwear. It became my playground: a place to be fully creative while learning everything about running a business, from identity and product to selling and storytelling.

After my bachelor's I kept studying, because I still wasn't sure which direction truly fit me. My internships made one thing clear: I didn't want to spend my days as a product designer or technical draftsman, just another piece on a company's board. So I took the pre-master and then the Master in Industrial Design at TU/e to find my own path.

During the Master I went looking for a job, and I knew what I was after. I'd followed AI since its rise and already used it heavily for AR-T, so I wanted a role that put that fascination and my creativity to work while deepening my knowledge of AI and design. That search led me to a working-student role as AI Designer at Online Klik, alongside my studies at TU/e.

It quickly became clear that I enjoyed working with AI far more, and learned far more from it, than from my studies. The courses started to lag behind, and the AI classes no longer matched what I already knew. So I chose to leave the Master, because I was growing much faster by building with AI than by sitting in lectures. Studying wasn't wasted though: it gave me clarity on exactly what I want to do. Design and build with AI.