Meet the Creators
- Sean von Stade
- Prisna Nuengsigkapian
Sean von Stade
Chief Toymaker & Jig Builder
Sean has been working with his hands and building stuff ever since he was 6 years old when his dad helped him open an old telephone to see its inner workings. Since moving to California he has worked construction, exhibit maintenance at the Exploratorium Science Museum, technical direction at a multimedia event production company and as a part-time professional handyman. His most complex and interesting works have been for artistic installations and personal projects.
After a life-long interest in physical activities like martial arts and extreme sports, Sean finally found the perfect activity to fill his need for physical expression in 1997 when he discovered fire dancing at a music festival in South Africa. During his travels, he created a modular breakdown multi-purpose travel staff that served as a single staff, double staves, clubs and poi, enabling him to play, practice and entertain wherever he went. Sean found that illuminating his tools provided a key motivation for movement. Recognizing that fire was naturally prohibitive in many ways and did not last long enough for really getting into the flow, he applied his electrical and engineering skills to develop a safe, convenient and long-lasting alternative. After 5 years of part-time tinkering and involvement with various other projects, the flowtoys modular system was born. When he determined that the only way to make what he wanted required parts made in the thousands, Sean's entrepreneurial spirit came into full force and with the generous support of his then soon-to-be wife Prisna, and the encouragement of his family and friends, flowtoys sprang to life.
Sean enjoys nothing more than improving things and developing tools to fill people's needs (except maybe dancing with his two 4' flowstaffs). As the current line of flowtoys products becomes more dialed in, he looks forward to bringing new products to market and spending more time developing and designing custom items and consulting on projects.Prisna Nuengsigkapian
Chief Kragle
After graduating in Environmental Science from Brown University, Prisna worked in the non-profit world for seven years: first in a labor union, then in a climate change campaign that sought to rally US cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, followed by an international sustainable development NGO, where she edited an online publication that updated decision makers on environmental news and policies and provided coverage of negotiations at the United Nations and other international fora. Prisna has contributed as a writer and editor to publications by the UN Environment Programme and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. She's also edited vE-jA - an haute-design book that provides an overview of global VJ culture.
In addition to dedicating her organizational, design and administrative skills to flowtoys, Prisna loves conceiving new tools to play with. Poi was Prisna's gateway flow instrument and she hasn't ceased exploring the universe of movement since having acquired her first pair of poi at the Berkeley Farmer's Market one Saturday in 1999 (thank you Isaac of Phoenix Rising). Her unique style has influenced numerous poi dancers, several of whom have surpassed any of her personal poi accomplishments, such as pioneering premier poi schools and performing as lead Cirque du Soleil fire dancers. While she can't take credit for having invented the concept of a stick-on-a-string, Prisna independently began dancing and expressing herself with the flow-wand, a tool that has gained popularity around the world from Singapore to San Francisco to Sweden. She seeks to continue bringing stunning and inspiring tools for self-expression to the world.
Meet the Elves
- Erol Efendioglu
- Emily Tsai
- Jacob Lamont
- Caio Hamon
- Will Kielty
- Dyami Kaplan
- Chris "Chachi" McCumber
- Ira Hyder
- Wyatt Davis
- Thaddeus McQueen
Erol Efendioglu
Customer Care Manager
Erol’s journey with the flow arts began a long time ago, at a camp site far, far away.
Glowsticks, shoelaces, and a wide range of physically painful learning experiences were his guides through his first year. It was not until Erol discovered flowlights (Sol and Nebula in particular) that he really began to invest his time and money into developing himself as a flow artist. It definitely helped that crystal cases really reduced the number of self-inflicted injuries, and were a lot more forgiving than glowsticks!
His life truly changed after his first fire festival experience at FireDrums 2010 where his love of the art from began to manifest itself. Then, once he ended up meeting his soul sister (Isa ‘Glittergirl’ Isaacs, Temple of Poi) at a San Francisco renegade fire jam, and he knew he was in it for life. Through the Isa and the Temple, he was exposed to the fire community as a whole, developed his love for teaching poi, and became involved in LED and fire performance. Four Union Square Fire Dancing Expos, two SF flow shows, and a multitude of paid gigs later Erol now considers himself a representative of the flow art culture, and a continuing advocate for presenting flow arts to the rest of the world.
Since he was a kid, comic books and superheroes were his role models. Now, with the help of Flowtoys, he can finally be the superhero that he always wanted to be!Emily Tsai
Customer Care Jedi
Emily’s origin story began long before she was even aware. After seeing Pixelwhips at various festivals for a few years, she finally bought one – her first LED prop! – from the flowtoys booth at Lightning in a Bottle, 2018. That very same weekend, she saw Flow Mayhem wield what seemed like a blazing sun on a rope and became mesmerized. She promised herself that she would try that someday.
When she returned home and began her research, she realized that many Pixelwhip moves she saw were inspired by rope dart. Once she picked up a rope dart for the first time, she was hooked – and hasn’t looked back since.
Her life has changed drastically since then. She never could have imagined the impact that flow arts would have on her life as she knew it. It became a catalyst in her journey of self discovery, self expression, and empowerment. Not only that, she has made some of her most cherished connections through the flow arts community.
Eventually, Emily’s flow arts journey brought her right back where it all started: flowtoys. She is now a customer care elf, assisting flow artists from all over the world with their flow experience. Emily believes that one of the most beautiful aspects of flow arts is the way that it brings together people of different backgrounds. She hopes to inspire others in their own special journeys, so that they can experience the magic she feels so lucky to have in her everyday life.Jacob Lamont
Customer Care Jedi
Jacob is one of those unicorn bay area locals. He found his passion for movement at 9 years old through gymnastics. That evolved into dance, performing and choreographing for his theater troupes.
He was introduced to the flow scene in Oakland in 2014 through Friday Night Lights. Poi turned to dragon staff turned to double hoops and after that it was a wrap.
Jacob has performed for parties and festivals across the globe, but his happy place is coordinating performers and watching his skillful friends tear up patterns and dancefloors.Caio Hamon
Production Lead & Procurement Manager
New to the Bay, Caio (Cow) Hamon is the definition of "chillaxed". Coming from the little-big town of Redding in northern Cali, he enjoys spending his time away from work dancing in clubs, gloving for his friends, and exploring his new surroundings. Always welcome to new faces and experiences, Cow opens his arms for a Bay-sized hug, who's in?
Will Kielty
Production operations
Will is a Bay Area native who loves his hobbies.
Will first found flow through playing guitar and music in 2005. Music was his first love and in many ways his gateway into practice & play, where he spent hours drilling chords and scales and improvising in order to improve, and years learning and teaching others. He volunteered, taught students, and worked on leadership skills at his local creative arts and human enhancement center.
Will began his flow journey in the form of prop manipulation in 2009. He started going to events - at first he was a little shy and intimidated, and wasn’t quite sure how to talk to or connect with others. He saw someone performing in the back of a crowd, and immediately noticed that people were talking to them. He was inspired, and decided to pick up glow-stringing and gloving. A couple years later, he discovered fire, which immediately took over and became his primary social outlet. What he didn’t know then, was that flow arts would become the entry point into his mind and his body as well.
He now enjoys teaching and fostering community in the Bay Area, teaching poi at the park on weekends, and running events in his off time. He loves creating a structured approach between flow, dance and musicality.Dyami Kaplan
Production & Assembly Jedi
Dyami’s journey in flow arts began when he first picked up poi on the beaches of Santa Cruz, California in 2006. He has always been fascinated by fire and dance and has found the flow arts to be a wonderful medium of creative expression and a way to bring people together. He is a long time flow arts teacher and has performed with various fire dance troupes including Kinetica and Nocturnal Sunshine. He has been working with Flowtoys since early 2018 and also works as a Massage Therapist.
Christopher "Chachi" McCumber
Production Lead & Festival Manager
Hailing from the East Coast, Chachi first discovered the flow arts in 2012 after seeing glow spinners at a show. He attended Great North in Maine where he first saw firespinning after picking up a pair of podpoi in 2013 - he was hooked.
A year later he was spinning with the Fire Conclave at Burning Man and made his transition to the San Francisco Bay Area. Along the way he picked up balls, sticks, and CLUBS! (a personal favorite)
On the west coast he has continued to pursue his passion of movement through object manipulation by attending flow arts and juggling festivals, teaching flow arts at music festivals, and helping to run a weekly firejam. An avid collector of cool tricks and good times, if you catch him in the wild, a good way to capture his attention is with a flashy trick.Ira Hyder
Production & Assembly Jedi
Ira is a Jeweler and crafts-person by trade. Apprenticing under MixMaster Global-J, building props as one of the Elves of Flowtoys has been an integral part of Ira's creative journey in the Bay Area.
Ira began juggling with his feet more than a decade ago with the Magic Orb more commonly known as a HackySack. Between the bobs and weaves, precision pirouettes, and the ability to redirect everyday objects with his mind, various movement styles came from this activity that introduced Ira to the Flow State. Snowboarding since a teenager became the ultimate conduit for the flow state-of-mind.
Ira fell into a dance community -Slipmat Science- based in Bend Oregon that strongly influenced his interest in a Robo-Liquid-Pop street styles, bass music, and making jewelry. During this period the Fork came into play. For six years Ira has been a trickster and found juggling a Fork on stage or in the sweet-spot of Funktion One speakers, using it for style and a platform to interact with others and the world at large.
At first glance of someone spinning fire in the desert, Ira gathered materials to make his first set of fire poi. Momentum picked up once he was introduced to the Dragon Staff; the push and pull of the Dragon Staff really assisted in all things fire. Double staves, fire fans, fire forks have followed suit. Juggling clubs and riding Air-wheels have naturally occurred in the orbit of the FlowSpace and currently has Ira hooked in major way. One can find this Wildcat breathing fire at Lake Merritt during Friday Night Lights, Full Moon fire jams, and West Coast Festivals.Wyatt Davis
Production Associate
Wyatt has been practicing juggling and flow arts for well over a decade. Born in ‘91 he was taught by his father how to juggle at a young age. A skill his mother would quickly frown upon because of all the damaged fruits in the house. He put down the apples and oranges as a teenager and found an interest in glowsticking. He spent hours downloading videos from glowsticking.com and trying new moves from his favorites and developing a foundation for spinning things. After some time spinning glowsticks he discovered poi. The similarities and the new poi-sibilities with a ball on a rope were fascinating. He continued down the path of poi for few years, picking up other props along the way and eventually stumbling upon two club spinning.
After the discovery of club spinning and seeing new techniques not possible with poi. He was hooked. He put down poi, and clubs quickly began to consume his life. After many years of practice and hard work, Wyatt has traveled the country to teach and perform at festivals and conventions and spread the love for Clubs!
You will usually catch him at the back of the jams and the corner of the gym working on his technique, or just being awkward. He is very focused but very friendly and loves to talk about juggling!Thaddeus McQueen
Production Associate
Thaddeus began martial arts at the age of 6. At age 9, he was traveling to compete in tournaments performing both traditional and freestyle weapon forms. During this time, he learned how to create and use fire pseudo weapons.
After years of competing in martial arts, he took up gymnastics in high school. Thaddeus discovered martial arts tricking during his time coaching gymnastics in college. Shortly after joining Team Everyday Heroes, he started traveling worldwide performing and teaching tricking and fire.
In 2013 moved to the Bay Area to continue his martial arts tricking career with Team Loopkicks and start his stunt training with Bay Area Stunts. It was at this point that Thaddeus began to specialize in body burns and utility stunts. Over the next 9 years Thaddeus has continued to train and coach as well as pursuit a career as a filmmaker and stunt actor.
