Simone Giertz

Giertz was born in Stockholm and attended high school in Sweden and Kenya, with a year as an exchange student in China; she then studied physics for a year at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.⁠[1]

She began sharing her inventions on YouTube in 2015.⁠[2]

She said one of her first builds was a “toothbrush helmet,” a skateboard helmet with a robot arm holding a toothbrush to brush the wearer’s teeth; after she posted it on YouTube and Reddit it drew thousands of views within half a day. She said she came to enjoy making useless things more than well-finished products.⁠[3]

In April 2016 she joined Adam Savage’s Tested team; her first project there was a mechanized helmet, built with Savage over Skype and mail, that feeds the wearer giant handfuls of popcorn.⁠[4]

Her surname, Giertz, is pronounced “Yetch.”⁠[4]

In September 2016 she spoke at Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by Rhode Island's colonial legislature in 1764, it is known for its undergraduate Open Curriculum, which has no common required core. Christina H. Paxson, president since July 2012, announced on August 3, 2026, that the 2026–27 academic year would be her last in office. As of October 1, 2026, the search for Brown's 20th president remained underway.Open the full entry about her “ideas first, tools later” approach; the host said her videos had drawn 15 million views in total. She said she is not formally trained as an engineer and did not finish college.⁠[5]

That year one of her robots smeared lipstick on host Stephen Colbert’s face on the Late Show.⁠[5]

In 2017 she and comedian Nisse Hallberg hosted the Swedish-language show Manick on Sweden’s TV6, inventing solutions to everyday problems; 12 episodes were ordered.⁠[6]

On April 10, 2018, she gave the talk “Why you should make useless things” at TED2018, demonstrating robots for chopping vegetables, cutting hair and applying lipstick that rarely succeed, and arguing that the value of making useless things lies in acknowledging that you don’t always know the best answer.⁠[7]

In the talk she described a long-standing fear of failure and humiliation and demonstrated on stage a wearable contraption she designed to mask her nerves.⁠[8]

On October 23, 2018, she launched the Every Day Calendar on Kickstarter: a circuit board of 365 capacitive touch sensors and LEDs, encased in a bamboo frame, on which users light up each day they meet a goal; the funding goal was $35,000.⁠[9]

The campaign ultimately raised nearly $600,000.⁠[10]

In June 2019 she published videos documenting how she and a group of makers including Rich Rebuilds converted a brand-new red Tesla Model 3 into a pickup she named Truckla. She said she had resolved never to drive a gas-powered vehicle but needed a truck, and no consumer electric pickups were then available.⁠[11]

The build removed the back half of the Model 3, added a bed floor from an old Ford F-Series and used parts of a cut-up GMC Canyon to close off the cabin; she said she intended to use it as her daily driver.⁠[12]

On May 3, 2022, she opened her first online storefront, the YETCH Store, with four products: the Every Day Goal Calendar ($365, previously sold at the MoMA Design Store), the intentionally incomplete Incomplete White Puzzle, and a Screwdriver Ring and a Screw Ring; her YouTube channel then had 2.6 million subscribers.⁠[2]

The store’s name, Yetch, spells her surname phonetically in English. She had moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, bought a house and set up a workshop in her backyard; she said Yetch’s tagline is “unique solutions for everyday problems.”⁠[10]

Before this she had also given lectures and voiced a robot in an animated series.⁠[13]

On April 16, 2023, she appeared as the guest of episode #372 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, which described her as an inventor, designer, engineer and roboticist; topics included her early creations, shitty robots, her creative process, her TED talk, mass production, Truckla, her experiences in China, Kenya and the US, and advice for young people.⁠[14]

In October 2024 she said she moved into commercial products to try something new and find longevity in her career, as she is not motivated to keep chasing attention; she described product development as feeling like going in circles while actually moving in a spiral, with ever-smaller failures.⁠[15]

In February 2025 Sweden’s University of Skövde announced an Honorary Doctorate in Informatics for her, conferred at its academic ceremony on March 21. She said that having only a high school diploma, it felt like a sign she “did okay anyway.”⁠[1]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@simonegiertz (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

X: Public account: https://x.com/SimoneGiertz (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

Yetch: Official website: https://yetch.store/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]