About Ember
Our Mission
We believe that there should be little-to-no friction in taking your ideas and turning them into reality. Our mission is to lower the barrier of entry for beginners and simplify the embroidery digitizing process, making it intuitive, fast, and fun for both beginners and professionals alike. We're dedicated to keeping our tools affordable and accessible, while also fostering a community of creators that can uplift and inspire one another.
How Ember Started
Ember was started in 2022 by Cory when he and his girlfriend were looking for an affordable and beginner-friendly digitizing tool but were frustrated with the severe lack of options. Led by his passion for software development, he built an initial prototype and shared it with his best friend, Robert. Together, they had developed a clear vision for not just a digitizing tool, but an entire platform of creators that can uplift and inspire one another.
With a vision in mind and a prototype in hand, they spent countless late nights developing the platform and iterating on features. They had built the first version of an embroidery editor, shareable projects, and some initial digitizing algorithms. However, something was still lacking. They realized they needed deeper expertise in not only the complex inner-workings of machine embroidery, but also in a particular area of mathematics, computational geometry.
Enter, Matt. As Cory and Robert were trying to refine their own algorithms, they had come across Matt and his impressive work in the machine embroidery space. Matt not only had technical programming expertise, but had done impressive work building his own embroidery algorithms and was able to bridge the gap needed to elevate the platform to the next level. Matt joined the team and the trifecta were able to come together, leveraging their collective expertise to build the Ember we have today.
Meet the Creators
Cory Ortega
Software Engineer, Embroidery Enthusiast
Cory Ortega is a software engineer by day and a machine embroidery enthusiast by night. With experience spanning large tech companies like Atlassian and fast-moving startups, he brings a pragmatic, product-focused approach to Ember’s development. His interest in computer graphics and visual systems strongly influences how designs are created, interacted with, and translated into embroidery. Cory is deeply involved in the community, often found in the Discord channel helping users and sharing knowledge. He focuses on building practical embroidery tools informed by computer graphics and real-world making, deliberately looking beyond traditional CAD solutions as inspiration to modernize the embroidery digitizing process.
Matt Jacobson
Mathematician, Artist, Engineer
Matt Jacobson is a creative technologist and generative artist working at the intersection of code, geometry, and textiles. With a background in mathematics and software engineering, Matt has spent the last several years developing open-source tools and algorithms for translating computational ideas into physical media. His work explores how systems, constraints, and mathematical structure can become expressive through thread. His desire to make powerful embroidery digitizing tools more accessible, transparent, and creative for artists, designers, and makers has been essential to the development of Ember.
Robert Guerra
Software Engineer, Mathematician
Robert Guerra is an applied mathematician and software engineer with years of experience in multiple technologies but a primary focus on iOS development. His experience in iOS development has been critical in spearheading the research and development of Ember’s iPad application and driving an overall vision for the platform. Roberts technical expertise and attention to detail, coupled with his passion for software, mathematics, and problem solving are one of the key reasons Ember is able to exist today. When he isn’t developing he can be found hanging out with family and friends, reading, or making music.