making things
that make things
make sense,
since 2005.

Pavlus explained our company and our ambitions better than we’ve been able to do. This is annoying to me, because that’s supposed to be my job.


Paul Ford, co-founder & President, Aboard;
author, “What Is Code?

I work with organizations to clarify complex ideas and express them in engaging ways, mainly through writing projects, consulting engagements, and short films.

clients & partners

Pivotal Ventures • Autodesk • Smithsonian Institution • MIT • Bloomberg Businessweek • NPR • Simons Foundation • Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University • Quanta Magazine • Howard Hughes Medical Institute • Ziba DesignNature • Article GroupNational Geographic • Aboard • The Royal Society • Greater Good Charities • Accelerate Resilience L.A.SphericalThe New York Times Magazine & others

things like…

Core narrative for Melinda French Gates’s philanthropic investment company.

consulting

writing

No-nonsense white paper on AI agents that won’t bore you to tears.

short film

3D-animated “teaser” for community-based climate resilience in Los Angeles.

writing

Oral history of how ChatGPT ate the very scientific field that birthed it.

consulting

Research workshop for a major museum exhibit on the natural history of cellphones.

short film

Brand anthem for the scientific method, screened on the National Mall.

About me

When I visited my daughter’s kindergarten class for career day, I told the kids I was “curious for a living.” They didn’t get it, but I just wanted them to know it’s something you can actually do.

My work has been published in The Best American Science & Nature Writing anthology series, written about in The New York Times, and gone viral on YouTube. A collaborator once referred to me as “a poor man’s Errol Morris,” which I treasure.

I’m based in Portland, OR but available to travel for on-site projects and consulting engagements.

About me

When I visited my daughter’s kindergarten class for career day, I told the kids I was “curious for a living.” They didn’t get it, but I just wanted them to know it’s something you can actually do.

My work has been published in The Best American Science & Nature Writing anthology series, written about in The New York Times, and gone viral on YouTube. A collaborator once referred to me as “a poor man’s Errol Morris,” which I treasure.

I’m based in Portland, OR but available to travel for on-site projects and consulting engagements.