People often ask me how and why I thought of launching Found Loop
Well, this is what the aftermath of human error looks like.
My husband, who likes to live his life dangerously, took this photo moments after I realised I had lost my wedding ring. You can see it in my eyes; it wasn’t just about the ring, it was the grief of losing a physical anchor to my own story.
Ironically, our life together started at Heathrow Airport. We met in transit, and I’ve been enchanted by the magic of travel and these in-between spaces ever since.
While he was doing his Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at University College London and I was at the University of Surrey, he shared studies with me on how memory overload can cause us to act mindlessly and be more prone to making errors. He had had me at hello, and now all over again; I became fascinated by the science of how we fail.
I realised that these liminal spaces (like airports, hotels, transit hubs) are where we are most vulnerable. It’s where our minds drift, and we make the human errors that cost us the things we love most.
At the University of Queensland I studied the psychology of travel and tourism. Even began a PhD in customer errors, but in 2020, I realised research alone couldn’t fix the hollow feeling I felt in this photo.
I didn’t want to just study human error; I wanted to design solutions that caught people when they fell. Solutions that made life better. I launched my experience design consultancy, Awethentic to design better human experiences, but the flame for the lost item crisis never went out.
In 2024, the “why” finally met the “how.” The Queensland Government saw the vision and backed Found Loop through the Female Founders program.
I didn’t build Found Loop to be a regular lost-and-found service. I built it to be a safety net for those moments when we lose our way. Because the pain of losing something irreplaceable is a heavy journey, and it’s one you shouldn’t have to walk alone.
Have you ever lost something that felt like losing a piece of your story?
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