1891 · Frederick, Maryland
We build the tools that bring people together. In person.
Over the years we kept hitting the same walls — in meetings, on the court, in the classroom, at the dinner table — and built our own way through each one. Sixteen products later, the throughline holds: everything we make brings people together in person. Nothing to install, nothing to hide behind, and never tied to one device. Designed For Us, Built For Everyone.
years Deaf, since 1891
products, one studio in Frederick
live experiences in a browser tab
designed, soldered, and made by hand
A few to start with
Sixteen products. Here are five.
Why touchless, why signless
The case for a touchless, signless world.
Most technology around us assumes you can speak. Voice alone is exclusionary, noisy, and unnecessary as a default — and millions of people already navigate the world without it. A camera that watches the hands is quieter, more private, and more universal. Thirty-six handshapes cover the alphabet and the digits — most people learn them in an afternoon — and the cameras to run it are already in everyone’s pocket. No new science required.
Touchless and signless. Both. For everyone.
Americans have trouble using their voices (NIDCD)
handshapes cover A–Z and 0–9 — learnable in an afternoon
smartphones already carry a capable camera
new science required — the pieces all exist today
What we make
Sixteen products. One throughline.
Each one started as a pain point we lived. The success of a person, a community, or an organization rests on tools that bring them together in person — not apps that keep them apart.
The individual
Tools you pick up yourself.
Teleprompter
A teleprompter built for signers. Voice mode for hearing speakers. Same script, same room.
Explore →ThinkASL
Coming soonA self-paced fingerspelling course. The camera you already have is the practice partner.
Explore →Heart Space
Quiet rooms that answer a sign with warmth. For hospitals, schools, and still corners.
Explore →The family
For the people at your table.
The community
Where people gather, in person.
Arena
Tournaments and leagues — brackets, live scoring, an archive. Pickleball and bowling first.
Explore →Imagination Town
A city of everyday places a kid runs by signing. Installed in museums and civic spaces.
Explore →Game Lab
Two dozen games where signing is how you win. Free to play; a plan for classrooms.
Explore →Speech Class
The same games, played out loud. Say the answer; it checks you got it right and shows how clearly it came through — built to run alongside a speech teacher.
Explore →Gameroom
Make game night a tournament — open a room, share a code, everyone plays on their own screen. Auto-seeded brackets, a live leaderboard, a champion.
Explore →Homestead Keys
Local eggs, produce, and homestead goods from Frederick-area neighbors who actually have the permits.
Explore →The organization
Running the room — and the year.
1891 Organizations
Dashboards, dues, broadcasts, and a member directory for groups that run themselves — with two ways to run the room: Parliamentarian for formal Robert's Rules, Town Hall for live polls, Q&A, and quick votes.
Explore →Visual Quiz
Multiple-choice answered by signing A, B, C, or D. Schools and museums embed it.
Explore →The agency
The back office for an agency built on relationships.
How we decide
Six principles that shape every install.
They’re how we make the decisions you don’t see us making.
Inclusion, never replacement.
Build for the people who fail your interface.
Voice is one input, not the only one.
The medium isn’t the point. The moment is.
Cost is no longer the barrier.
The kindest interface is the truest one.
Try before you talk to us
Three dozen demos, nothing to install.
Imagination Town, Heart Space, and Game Lab — dozens of live experiences you run in a browser tab with the camera you already have.
Work with us
The studio.
One workshop in Frederick builds the whole thing — software, hardware, firmware, gameplay. A small number of partners each year get the workspace. Custom installations, product collaborations, rooms designed together from the floor up.
Talk to the studio →Why it's built this way
Carried forward since 1891.
1891 was the year the founder's family went Deaf, and the year American Deaf people gathered for their first national convention. 135 years later, the family is still Deaf, still in Frederick, and still building rooms where the gathering happens — only now the room can be a browser tab, a kiosk, a movie theater, or a real elevator with floors that move at the speed of a hand.
Read the heritage →