Sam Lowe ’20, Scott Diekema ’19, Nicholas Byrne ’19, and Jonny Huang ’24 of recycleReality on launching a creative technology studio in New York

Catalyze

Today’s guests are Sam Lowe ’20, Scott Diekema ’19, Nicholas Byrne ’19, and Jonny Huang ’24, who Zoomed with Morehead-Cain from Brooklyn.
Sam, Scott, and Nicholas are the co-founders of recycleReality, a creative technology studio in New York that specializes in bespoke design and software solutions in music, fashion, art, and architecture. Jonny interned with the alumni this summer for his Morehead-Cain Professional Experience summer.
On this episode, the Morehead-Cains share about the early collaborations at UNC–Chapel Hill that led to forming their own company, how their different backgrounds and skillsets (computer science to communications and music) complement one another, and a music responsive light box that recycleReality plans to release within a year.
recycleReality garnered recognition earlier this year with two OBIE Awards as part of the 2022 “Breakthrough Artist” ad campaign by Amazon Music and Overall Murals. The alumni won the OBIE Craft Award for Best Illustration and a Silver OBIE Award in the Billboards category. The OBIE Awards, presented annually by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, recognize outstanding contributions to the world of advertising and design.
Nicholas and Sam are returning Catalyze guests. The two (along with Eric Lee ’18) spoke with Morehead-Cain back in 2020 during a road trip across the country with a U-Haul-turned-mobile-recording-unit.

The episode’s intro song is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

How to listen

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Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [e-mail].