About Matt Binns

"Anything legal will be considered," he says, "but nothing ordinary."

Areas of interest: Aluminum and Fiberglass Globe Fabrication, Special Effects for Commercials, TV and Theater, Prototype Development, Project Management and design/fabrication for large scale Public Art, Invention Evaluation, Furniture Design, Custom Fabrication in wood, metal and plastics, Sculpture, Troubleshooting and Brainstorming.

We have the answer, what was your question?

If you have a problem that seems to defy description and the internet won't help, see what we can do. If you need a flying pig or a talking hamburger, a six foot globe or a full size man-lift built from scratch, or if you just need an outside mind for a ground-truth reality check, we can help. Simple elegance is our goal, the stripping away of the unnecessary.

Who is Matt Binns and why does he think he knows so much?

Clinically curious and certifiably devious, Matt Binns is what is known as a 'Creative Generalist,’ His goal is to know a little of everything and to specialize only when absolutely necessary. To avoid clogging his synapses with redundant minutia he employs a variety of experts as required. The result is that he will forget your name in seconds, but can cross-link disparate disciplines with elegant ease. Got a bug in your production line? An idea that won't gel? A widget that won't? Call in a mind that can see the wood, the trees and the fields beyond.

Where did he pick all this up?

His father was a scientist given an O.B.E. by the Queen and his mother was a Fulbright scholar, so the blame begins with them. He has lived and worked on three continents including a couple of years owning a beach bar in the Gulf of Thailand on a palm-fringed island off the Isthmus of Kra (Could there be a better sounding isthmus?) where he designed and built a two story house/bar/restaurant from local materials and founded the legendary Ark Bar of Koh Samui. He has worked for BBC television across Europe and been at the muddy end of landscape architecture. He has done special effects work for most of the Fortune 100, designed and built spectacle-sized action props and has carried severed limbs from operating theaters for incineration. The result? A broad swath of experience and a mental horizon that stretches from Pole to shining Pole.

Resume
  • Adjunct Professor, Columbia College Chicago, Cinema mechanical effects, 2011 – present
  • Founding partner, MGS Rehab Products LLC., Texas, 2008 – present.
  • President of Giant Globes Inc., Chicago, 2002 – present.
  • Special Effects design and fabrication, Chicago, 1994 – present.
  • Restaurant and bar owner, Koh Samui, Thailand, 1991-1993
  • Assistant Director, BBC Television Drama. UK and France. 1989-1991
  • BA (Honors) Communication and Media Production, Bournemouth University, UK, 1989
Areas of Experience, including, but not limited to….

Prototype development, Production management/planning, Welding: Mig, Tig, Plasma, all metals. Plastics: forming: construction techniques, properties, adhesives, thermo and vacuforming. Molding and casting: silicones, foams, rubber, resins. Rapid Prototyping: 80/20 and Berkey Systems. Machining: wood and metal lathe/mill. Tube and bar bending. Pneumatics. Hydraulics. Bio-wire (Nitinol). Radio control. Wire remote control, actuation and rigging, from .001″ tungsten wire to aircraft cable suspension systems. Bungees. Linear motion. Belts and gear train systems. Fasteners. Adhesives. Shock and sound absorption. Heat dispersion. Electrical: motors, sensors, triggers, timers. Basic pyrotechnics. Fluid dynamics. Ergonomics. Space management. Weight critical design. Furniture design. Architecture (designed and built a restaurant and house) Paints and finishes. Lighting. Sculpture. Brainstorming/trouble shooting.

Clients in non-globe endeavours

  • Citibank
  • Ameritech
  • Nike
  • Chevrolet
  • Ford
  • GM
  • Caterpillar
  • Sony
  • IBM
  • GE
  • MCI
  • Nokia
  •  3-Com
  • Hallmark
  • McDonalds
  • Lever Brothers
  • S.C. Johnson
  • Grainger
  • Omron
  • Discover
  • MasterCard and Visa,
  • Target
  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Howard Johnson
  •  Commonwealth Edison
  • State Farm
  • Marshall Fields
  • Illinois Lottery
  • Quaker Oats
  • Marshall’s
  • Sears
  • Estee Lauder
  • Dutch Boy
  • Kraft
  • Betty Crocker
  • Konami
  • Bob Evans
  • Fannie Mae
  • Wrigley’s Gum
  • Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
  • The Field Museum
  • The Chicago Children’s Museum
  • Adler Planetarium
  • Kenosha Museum of Natural History
  • Redmoon Theatre
  • and many, many more.

Music: The Rolling Stones, R Kelly, Mötley Crüe, Veruca Salt, Iron Maiden, 10,000 Maniacs, Blue Boy, Kenny Wayne Sheppard Band, Aerosmith, The Who.

Art etc… ‘The Traveler’ Installation at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Summer 2004. Various other sculptural objects for various locations, people and reasons.

In 2006 built large practical catapults for the Museum of Science and Industry’s Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. Catapults were operated by the public, indoors, without supervision.

Prototype Design and Fabrication:

IDEO Chicago.

MGS rehab products LLC, TX. Designed and patented the Shoulder Rx rotator cuff rehab device.