Simple Machine is part portrait of an architect who became an amputee in midlife, and part meditation on the beauty and challenges of classical mechanics in the ingenious tools of our everyday lives. The film re-frames assistive technologies in the adapted wood shop of one man, but it also sets his story against the history of post-war prosthetics, industrial manufacturing, and the irreducible complexity of life with machines. From May to October 2024, Simple Machine was featured at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich as part of the exhibit Design for all? Diversity as the norm.