Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Product Development and Manufacturing Consultant.
I work across many fields in the development of new products and technologies — from identifying user needs through to setting up a production line. Across my career I have led and managed projects that required focused attention in each of these areas, building the experience to run projects independently or oversee teams.
Create the ideal style and aesthetic solution that aligns with a brand identity and appeals to the consumer's desires.
Produce elegant, efficient and innovative technical solutions that enhance the user experience.
Identify the best materials, processes and suppliers to meet the tightest requirements in an ever-evolving sector.
Design products that are easy, safe, intuitive and natural to use.
Work in compliance with FDA and CE regulations to develop new healthcare products.
Use a range of methods to uncover unmet user needs and identify the best opportunities for innovation.
All design and engineering development work should follow a process in order to manage risk and meet deliverables. This starts by establishing clear objectives and dividing the work into manageable phases, which then makes it possible to plan the whole project, stage by stage.
Across my career I have worked through every phase of development, using a range of approaches. Through this journey I have adapted and developed a stage-gate process that aligns with most companies. Each phase de-risks specific aspects of the product or technology to help ensure a successful outcome.
This process can comply with FDA, ISO 13485 and CE regulations for medical products, as well as aligning with NASA's Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). The goal is to build confidence at each stage that the product will work, so the critical work happens early and the main risks are controlled before investment increases in the later phases.
Developing a new product requires a solid understanding of both design and engineering. My experience across both fields lets me deliver high-quality results on tight timescales and within budget. A good product development plan needs a careful balance between every discipline involved — and the challenge is that every programme is unique, demanding different effort at each stage. The key to great design is understanding that balance and giving each challenge the right attention at the right time.
A great product has to be useful, intuitive, beautiful and accessible.
In my day-to-day work I need to uncover opportunities for innovation and foresee technical challenges. Creating a great product means understanding the user and the commercial landscape, and translating those observations into innovation opportunities. At the same time, it's critical to understand technical limitations and boundaries — knowing when and how to push them to deliver breakthrough innovation.
Entrepreneurs often underestimate the level of risk and challenge involved in designing a new product. The most common mistake is assuming that once a concept exists, the rest of the work is straightforward, simple and cheap.
The reality is that if detailing, engineering, manufacturing and testing aren't done correctly, it can cause severe delays, substantial expense, and in many cases cause the venture to fail. My experience across the full design journey lets me plan a complete development programme aligned to specific objectives, timescales and technical challenges.
Leading design and engineering teams takes more than a Gantt chart and well-documented design reviews. In my career I've seen many carefully managed projects, with strong plans and record-keeping, that still failed commercially or never made it to market.
What those projects lacked was a solid technical understanding of the mechanical and manufacturing challenges, paired with real vision and knowledge of the commercial requirements — in other words, the ability to adapt and lead the moment risks surface, and the judgement to know where to look for them. Most of my recent work has been in exactly this space, whether the title is systems engineer, project manager, lead designer or team leader. My track record of delivering successful programmes shows that this approach leads to an effective outcome on any new product development project.
Form follows function, and function follows the person using it. We design products that look resolved and work the way people expect — balancing aesthetics, ergonomics, and manufacturability from the first sketch.
Behind every good-looking product is a mechanism that actually works. We engineer the structure, tolerances, and assemblies that turn a concept into something that survives drop tests, duty cycles, and daily use.
A great design that can't be built at volume isn't finished. We bridge engineering and the factory floor — selecting processes, sourcing partners, and refining tooling so the product that ships matches the one we designed.
Medical work demands a different level of rigor. We design with usability engineering, biocompatible materials, and regulatory pathways in mind from day one — built for people who can't afford a device that fails.
Electronics products live or die on the details — thermal behavior, fit and finish, antenna placement, the way a button feels. We design enclosures and mechanical systems around real PCBs, batteries, and components, not the other way around.
A sample of projects across disciplines. Replace these cards with real project photography, names, and outcomes.
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X Castro is an independent design and engineering consultancy founded to close the gap between a sketch and a shipped product. The practice works across industrial design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing — taking on projects end-to-end or joining at whatever stage they're needed.
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xorge@x-castro.comBased in — add your city / region.