The media are not toys… they can be entrusted only to new artists, because they are art forms.
(McLuhan, 1954)
What I’ve Done:
Community Organizing + Experience Design
R&D + Industrial Design
Assisting
Academic Work
Fine Art 
Who is Ella Rocker? And what is Constructive Chaos?
Well, Ella Rocker is me (hi). And Constructive Chaos is how I move through the world: it is mindset, method, and muscle memory. It is the belief that complexity is not the enemy, but where the good stuff lives. It is the practice of showing up with curiosity, listening deeply, and making sense of messes by making things—systems, stories, strategies, objects.
I’m a strategist, designer, and craftsperson. I bring systems thinking and creative care to problems that don’t fit neatly in boxes—like co-creating a mud playground with eight-year-olds, launching a wooden handbag line, prototyping a wearable lactation simulator (yes, really), or designing a mental health intervention for teens in Somaliland.
I’ve worked in shops, studios, schools, restaurants, galleries, on an assembly line, in the woods, and in living rooms-turned-production floors—often on projects where no one had time to explain what was going on, so I figured it out.
What do I do?
The shortcut: I make things make sense.
The scenic route: I ask better questions. I connect dots. I translate big ideas into tangible outcomes—digital and physical. I build timelines, presentations, prototypes, and momentum.
Lately, I’ve been shifting from fabrication toward strategy, not to leave making behind, but to apply it in new ways. Less products for people, more systems with people. I’m currently focused on experience strategy and systems design—helping organizations and communities translate complexity into grounded, human-centered solutions.
Across every project, my work connects the tactile and the conceptual—always asking how design can help people navigate complexity with more clarity and care. I thrive in cross-disciplinary environments, translating between creative teams, technical experts, and community stakeholders to bring ideas from ambiguity into action.
I’ve worked across industrial design, architecture, fine art, education, and speculative futures—and somewhere along the way earned what I call an honorary degree in engineering. I’m drawn to projects that surprise me (or scare me just enough to grow). I love both the messy beginnings and the polished outcomes. I believe in shared meals, clear communication, and stepping back to see the whole picture before you call it done.
Where am I now?
Brooklyn, mostly.
Sometimes in studios, sometimes in CAD land, sometimes pacing someone through the final miles of an ultramarathon.
Always learning. Always building. Always giving a damn.