Early Life and Beginnings
Born Simone Luna Louise Söderlund Giertz on November 1, 1990, in Stockholm, Sweden, Giertz’s early interests leaned toward technology and creative problem-solving. Although she briefly studied engineering physics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, her interests shifted after just one year – she later described dropping out as part of a journey of self-discovery.
Her creative spark found fertile ground at Hyper Island – an open, technology-centric educational community – where she began experimenting with electronics and hardware. A simple project intended for a children’s TV show – a toothbrush helmet that attempted to brush her teeth – became her first robot video on YouTube in August 2015, launching her into the online spotlight.
By 2016, her channel was gaining traction, and she quickly earned the affectionate internet epithet “Queen of Shitty Robots” – a description she embraced for her deliberately impractical creations.
The Rise of the “Shitty Robot” Era
Giertz’s early creations were intentionally comedic and absurd: machines that succeeded in accomplishing tasks but in hilariously inefficient or chaotic ways. Examples included a robot that served breakfast but spilled cereal and milk everywhere, an alarm clock that literally slapped its owner awake with a rubber hand, and a lipstick robot that smeared color wildly across her face.
These videos, marked by a self-deprecating style and a sense of joyful experimentation, did more than entertain – they communicated that anyone, regardless of formal engineering training, could pick up tools and explore hardware. This approachable ethos resonated with millions.
Her blend of comedy, creativity, and technical exploration was not just about laughs: Giertz used these projects as a way to learn about technology and demystify creation for her audience. Her early TED Talk, “Why You Should Make Useless Things,” captured this philosophy, asserting that experimenting and playing with ideas – even ones that fail – is crucial to creative growth.
Throughout this period, she appeared on mainstream platforms as well, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and collaborated with fellow maker Adam Savage on projects for Tested.com.
Transitioning to Bigger Projects
By the late 2010s, Giertz began exploring more ambitious builds. That shift didn’t mean abandoning humor – rather, it meant pairing her signature comedic tone with projects that had greater technical depth and narrative weight.
One of the most famous of these was “Truckla”, a modified Tesla Model 3 converted into a functional pickup truck. This multi-month project, documented in a viral YouTube build video, captured not only the mechanics of the conversion but also her collaborative spirit, involving fellow YouTubers and mechanics. The project served as a turning point, showing Giertz’s capacity for long-form design work and more serious maker culture storytelling.
During this phase, she also navigated personal challenges – including treatment for a benign brain tumor – with transparency and self-reflection on her channel, documenting the process and using her experiences to deepen her creative work rather than step away from it.
Yetch Studio: From Projects to Products
In May 2022, Giertz launched the Yetch Store, a product design company named playfully after how her surname Giertz is pronounced.
This marked a new chapter in her career: moving from one-off YouTube projects to designing and selling consumer products. Early releases included:
- Incomplete White Puzzle – an all-white puzzle that intentionally appears missing a piece, marketed as playful commentary on imperfection.
- Every Day Calendar – a system designed to help track daily habits.
- Coat Hinger – a space-saving, foldable clothes hanger that was successfully funded via Kickstarter.
Giertz’s product line exemplifies her design philosophy: products that solve real problems but come with a twist, blending utility with creativity and surprise.
Her approach to product development also reveals a structured mindset: turning sketches and CAD concepts into prototypes and scalable designs while balancing the demands of a YouTube career and a growing studio team.
Work in 2025 and 2026: Growth and Recognition
The years 2025 and 2026 have been significant both for Giertz’s creative output and the recognition of her impact. Important highlights include:
Academic Honor
In March 2025, the University of Skövde in Sweden awarded Simone Giertz an Honorary Doctorate in Informatics, recognizing her influence as a maker and creative thinker whose work redefines learning through experimentation. University officials praised her mindset of viewing failure as a positive part of the learning process.
This honor reflected her broader impact beyond entertainment – acknowledging her role as a cultural influencer in engineering education and creative design.
New Projects and Community Engagement
In 2025, Giertz continued to expand her repertoire of designs and YouTube content:
- She showcased a spinning coffee table that doubles as an ottoman – a practical yet imaginative piece born from design thinking applied to everyday living spaces.
- At the 2025 Cairo Maker Faire, Giertz posted a collaboration involving a flip clock modified to track moon phases – demonstrating her continued engagement with maker communities worldwide.
- She has teased future products from Yetch Studio, including new items under development for 2026, signaling ongoing innovation.
Her public presence on platforms like Instagram and podcasts further illustrates an evolving image: less of a niche internet comedian and more of a design visionary with a growing influence in maker culture and product design.
Creative Philosophy: Failure, Play, and Empowerment
At the core of Simone Giertz’s work is a philosophy that innovation arises from playfulness and fearless experimentation.
Her early robots weren’t just jokes – they were tools that helped her learn how hardware works without fear of embarrassment or failure. As she described in interviews, crafting “useless” machines allowed her to sidestep performance anxiety and instilled in her an openness to iteration and unexpected outcomes – principles that have guided her designs ever since.
Over time, this philosophy evolved into something more structured: Giertz now applies that same mindset to real product development, but she still embraces iterative failure as an essential step in the creative process.
This belief in learning through failure – and making that process approachable for others – has made her an inspirational figure for aspiring inventors, makers, and creators around the world.
Impact and Cultural Influence
Simone Giertz’s influence spans several domains:
- Internet Culture: Her early videos helped define a subgenre of maker content that de-emphasizes technical perfection in favor of humor, curiosity, and accessibility.
- STEM Engagement: Students, hobbyists, and DIY enthusiasts have cited her work as an entry point into electronics, design, and fabrication.
- Product Design: Through Yetch Studio, she has carved a space where playful ideas can translate into marketable goods, proving that design doesn’t have to be strictly functional to be meaningful.
- Representation: As a prominent female creator in the technical and maker spheres, Giertz has become a role model for underrepresented groups in engineering and design fields.
Her blend of storytelling, playful invention, and serious design has helped shape how creative technology is perceived and practiced online – inspiring many to make, break, and remake as a pathway to learning.
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