ABOUT ME & WHY I JOINED Fab Academy

My name is Daniel, but everyone calls me Dani :)

I’m a Polish designer currently living in Portugal. I recently discovered the Fab Academy, and I knew instantly that this was it—the course I’ve been unknowingly preparing for my entire life. Let me tell you why.

As a kid, I was the type who couldn’t leave a toy untouched. I opened everything: cars, trains, speakers—you name it—just to see how it worked. My dream toy was an electric miniature train set, gifted to me by my uncle. It had lights, and I could control the speed with an orange electric transformer. That little gadget sparked my fascination with electricity and the endless possibilities of creating things.

Soon, I was building Lego houses with elevators using toy motors, roads with lights, and even desk fans to cool myself down while my ideas ran wild.

Growing up, I struggled to find the right path. I was good at math and physics, but I craved something that combined art and science—something creative but technical. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a course that combined both, so I chose Electrotechnics, inspired by my dad, an electrician I often helped at work. But it quickly felt like it was slowly killing my creative spark.

By my second year, I started learning technical drawing for architecture. By the third year, I was studying both electrotechnics and architecture simultaneously—crazy, I know—but for the first time, I felt alive!

I finished my Bachelor’s in Electrotechnics and spent a life-changing year on a student exchange in Spain, where I fell in love with exploring new cultures and meeting people from all over the world. During my Master’s in Architecture, I studied abroad twice more: first in Portugal, then in Italy—and those experiences shaped who I am today.

But then reality hit hard. I realized how undervalued architects often are, and I started reconsidering my path. Luckily, my 3D modelling skills opened an unexpected door: Class-A surface modelling for the automotive industry. For five years, I worked on high-precision 3D designs for car interiors and exteriors, and I loved every second of it.

Unfortunately, the automotive industry has taken a hard hit, and I lost my contracts. I invested in a CNC machine I’d been dreaming of since my architecture days. I started small creative projects while job-hunting, but then the universe gave me a sign.

I walked into a FabLab to ask for advice about my CNC machine, and that’s where I met André, a Fab instructor. He told me about Fab Academy, and suddenly, everything clicked—my passion for making, my technical background, and my dream of bringing ideas to life.