Matthijs Kamstra

Engineering Manager, Technical Lead, Product Owner, Senior Software Developer, still a Unicorn 🦄

Technical leadership, software development and just enough unicorn energy

Matthijs Kamstra helps organizations turn ideas into usable, technically solid software. He combines 20+ years of software development, innovation and team leadership with a maker mindset shaped by art, engineering, playfulness and yes, a little unicorn energy. ℹ️

I can help you with:

Technical direction

I help teams connect product, technology and delivery

Product thinking

I translate ideas into concrete, usable solutions

AI and prototyping

From proof-of-concept to practical AI-driven applications

Frontend and full stack

Angular, React, TypeScript, Node.js and modern web platforms

Developer coaching

I help developers and teams grow in skill, ownership and quality

Innovation

Experimentation, workshops and new ideas that can actually ship

Architecture and delivery

CI/CD, technical choices, scalable implementation and pragmatic decisions

Creative resilience

Calm in complexity, curious in ambiguity and practical under pressure

APE

I am the creator of the APE method: Art, Playfulness and Engineering. It is a way of thinking about products, experiences and experiments that should not only work, but also connect with people.

APE brings together the digital and physical world, creativity and technology, strategy and making.

In a world full of noise, notifications and surface-level interaction, APE is my reminder to build things that feel useful, human and memorable.

More about the APE-methode

Random work

Example of my work

Adidas and Converse

Adidas and Converse Another 3d logo experiment

Brummble

Brummble papertoy I started with papertoys because I once saw someone make a vinyl toy from paper. This is a tribute to a toy company (3A) that makes awesome toys: the 3A bramble.

Minimal personal calendar

Minimal personal calendar This project generates a matchbox calandar. What makes it personal is that the calandar starts (and ends) with your birthday.

Little house

Little house A gift for my daughters teacher. Primairely a test to see how detailed the Cricut is.

GrummSkull

GrummSkull My fist papertoy Grumm has his own twitter account: @I_am_Grumm) And if you follow him, you will get your own personalized GrummSkull papertoy.

ThreeA Square

ThreeA Square I started with papertoy because I didn't have the money to buy the vinyls that I really wanted. At that time it where the toys of Michael Lau. If I would start now it would have been the toys of a company called ThreeA. This i...

You can book me for:

Presentations

Leadership, AI, product thinking, learning, creative coding and more

Workshops

AI prototyping, design thinking, Haxe, maker education and papertoys

Advisory

Technical direction, product ideas, innovation sessions and sparring

Creative problem solving

Different angle, pragmatic choices, clear outcomes

MVP and proof-of-concept

From first idea to something real you can test and improve

Creative Coding

Code as a practical tool, a creative medium and a way to explore

Quote

I should write something clever, but I have nothing!

Matthijs Kamstra

Socials