I seek out risky but ambitious projects, eager to work on the edge of what this world has to offer.
Skiers get their rush going down 8,000 foot mountains, I get mine by designing, problem solving, and working with people who are just as passionate about what they do, as I am about what I do.
The Saga
In 2020 I launched Rienks Motor Design, LLC, and this website, to help pay my way through a second college degree. I envisioned, eventually, a bustling design studio with a team of sharp minds by my side, designing for niche high-end, low-volume production automotive and consumer markets - alongside companies I was already designing for.
I presented myself to the world as an ambitious designer with a unique background. One that did not surround a college degree as a foundation, but lucrative apprenticeships and hands-on experiences alongside the pursuit of college education. While this gave way to many fulfilling accomplishments, as time has gone on I've realized I'm not ready to build a design studio from scratch. Let alone the huge, innovative company I dream of one day building.
What I do want to do, however, is work alongside other passionate and ambitious people.
Now in 2024, as I lead the interior design for LEO Flight's flying car, I've paused RMD. This website is turning into something much more personal. No longer for presenting my aspirations to the world as a business, but for expressing my individuality.
Design is something that should not be constrained to any specific field. Specializing and mastery are beautiful things, but so is bringing together multiple fields to create something else entirely.
One of my greatest influences Don Norman - an iconic figure in human-centered design - never recieved a degree in design at all. He recieved a degree in engineering, and later a degree in psychology. Combining these two fields together, he helped create an entirely new movement in design that is now taught in nearly every design school in the world.
Before founding Rienks Motor Design, I had the privilege of learning from some remarkable individuals – many who were true masters in their respective fields. From some I learned about building, problem solving, or what it takes to run a business, and from others more about life and what a creator truly is.
I was lucky enough to find people who saw my passion for building, allowing me to learn and work with them for a number of years, before I set foot in design school at 22.
Prior to entering the world of design, my foundation is primarily in fabricating for the high-end custom automotive industry - legacy sheet metal shaping and fabrication, carbon fiber production, and prototyping. Largely resulting from these hands-on skills, now at 25 years old, I have 7 years of professional experience working on 6-, 7-, and 8-figure automotive projects.
Built upon these skills, I'm devoted to pursuing advanced design and problem solving across as many industries as I can get my hands into.
I thank you for your interest in my site, and hope we can work together on something amazing.
Shane Rienks
Some Pull-Max metal forming - a custom firewall for a '56 Chevy.
@ZRodz and Customs
Huge-scale 3D printing on a BigRep One
@Fiber Forged Composites