Studio
A research lab that makes beautiful things.
headmachine is a speculative design and AI research studio founded by Sumit Pandey and Swati Srivastava. We sit at the intersection of systems thinking, machine intelligence, and human experience.
Our work spans research, prototyping, and designed artifacts. We make tools for thinking, interfaces for understanding, and objects that reveal how intelligent systems actually work.
We believe that good design can make AI legible, honest, and genuinely useful — without sacrificing rigor or aesthetic ambition.
Founders
Sumit Pandey
Design leadership and AI strategy at industrial scale. Focused on the intersection of complex systems, machine intelligence, and human experience.
sumitpandey.com↗Swati Srivastava
Product and service design across clean energy, fintech, and civic systems. Oslo-based, globally-minded, methodically rigorous.
swatis.work↗Approach
Research first
We don't design for trends. Every project starts with deep research — into the domain, the system, the humans involved, and the second-order effects of getting it wrong.
Make things
Research without artifacts is just notes. We prototype, build, and ship — even when 'shipping' means a detailed speculative scenario or a working proof-of-concept.
Aesthetic rigor
Beauty is not decoration. Form that is precisely suited to function communicates integrity. We hold both to the same standard.