We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Henri Exel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Henri, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning 3D printing (MSLA) has been a wild challenge, starting with the realization that the whole thing is not just pressing a button; it takes a tremendous amount of research and practice to dial everything precisely and produce high quality prints consistently. Since it’s a newer kind of technology there aren’t that many reliable resources out there, instead you’ll find a lot of guesswork, myths and borderline superstitious practices getting most of the attention online, so you have to be smart about who you listen to. I wasted a lot of time following wrong advice. When I got back on track, I found consistent improvement in isolating variables plus extensive testing, this way you will be able to understand the cause and effect relationship and eventually play the printer like a violin.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Henri, a 29 year old Brazilian guy who’s been living in Los Angeles since 2015. I first moved out here to pursue music. It may not have been the most fruitful career ever but I did get to play a lot of metal and make some amazing memories, and that is almost enough for me to convince myself it was a success. Jokes aside, playing guitar was my identity since I was 14, so it was extremely painful when I decided I had to give it up because of the covid lockdown. Sometime in 2020 I reconnected with my love for graphic design, which I had a brief experience with in college, so it didn’t take too long for me to start to feel that same joy and sense of fulfillment I had with music. Funnily enough this feeling is treacherous, it compels you to try to make a living out of it, that is where Post Mortem Plastics comes from. Post Mortem Plastics is a design and manufacturing company, that creates high-end plastic trinkets inspired by the darker things in life, and death. PMP acts on two fronts, we offer a range of original designs directly to consumers through our website, while also collaborating with other brands in a B2B capacity, crafting exclusive merchandise to enhance their product line.
The company was conceived during the pandemic. All of the uncertainty that came along with it led my girlfriend and I to brainstorm business ideas, we were looking for something that would allow us to work from home and exercise our creative bones, so I thought “how about we start a 3d printing business?”. I had zero experience with 3d modeling or 3d printing and even less with running a company.
I am very thankful for my naiveness back then, If I knew how unprepared I was I would have probably never even tried. All I had was a half baked plan, willingness to learn and a lot of time (due to the lockdown), and I was privileged to be in health and to be able to use the majority of that time studying hard, practicing and building the company.
After about a year we started to see some real signs of potential; the volume of B2B clients was increasing, their feedback built us up with confidence and helped steer the company in the right direction, transforming it into something actually viable. Unfortunately progress isn’t always linear, for a few long years the business was quite stagnate, but steady enough to keep us going. It was quite a challenge to walk the tightrope between success and failure for so long with little hope things would change dramatically
By the end of 2022 the tides began to change, it is hard to pinpoint the reason why but I believe it to be the delayed reward consistent work often brings. For most of 2023 the amount of new and returning clients was exceptional and even our online store started to report significant numbers. Fueled by last year’s results our plan for the rest of 2024 is to focus on our own product line and expand our target audience. I couldn’t be more excited about it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up in the late 90s society made it very clear to me there was only one path to success, pursuing anything outside the traditional doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc, was considered highly imprudent. To me the thought of being an artist felt like a childish fantasy up until my late teens when I decided to lean into it, I am very glad I turned on that belief when I did. The rate in which society has been changing since the genesis of social media and smartphones is unheard-of, the playbook handed to people my age is as outdated and useless as ashtrays on airplanes. The truth is, there are no more safe paths to follow, everything can change at the drop of a hat and you might be left with nothing more than your experiences, so you might as well take a shot at what truly makes you happy, there is nothing childish about it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

So many people are artists/creatives and don’t allow themselves to be. It can be hard to identify yourself as one especially if you are not satisfied with your material. Often artistry is mistakenly measured by parameters like technical ability, critical acclaim or even social media numbers and that couldn’t be more wrong, in my opinion being a creative has more to do with the visceral necessity to create than anything else. Understanding yourself as a creative can be very helpful, it will be easier to recognize your personal needs, weaknesses and strengths so you can deal with them more accurately, learn where to improve and where to ask for help. Not every artist needs to make it their living but I urge anyone who identifies with this to create, just for the sake of it, you will see how much it feeds your soul.

Contact Info:

• Website: postmortemplastics.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/postmortemplastics