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Meet The Flowtoys Crew

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.

Meet the Elves

  • Erol Efendioglu
  • Emily Tsai
  • Jacob Lamont
  • Caio Hamon
  • Will Kielty
  • Dyami Kaplan
  • Chris "Chachi" McCumber
  • Ira Hyder
  • Raphael Angeles
  • 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!