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99% Invisible
99% Invisible

Tony Hawk's Real-Life Willy Wonka

October 20, 2026 • 52m

Summary

⏱️ 11 min read

Overview

Experience designer Indy Austin, described by Tony Hawk as 'f***ing Willy Wonka,' creates transformative real-world experiences ranging from desert train journeys to elaborate funeral rituals. This episode explores how Austin's unconventional upbringing in an Alaskan doomsday cult shaped his philosophy of designing serendipity, transgression, and generosity into people's lives—sometimes without their knowledge.

The Desert Train Experience

Tony Hawk describes one of Indy Austin's most memorable creations: a five-car train built on abandoned tracks in the Southern California desert. What began as a request for a simple office holiday gathering transformed into an elaborate journey featuring a piano player, bar car, and a deeply personal ritual where Hawk's team buried a bottle of whiskey with a promise to reunite if one of them died. This perfectly encapsulates Austin's approach of turning simple requests into profound, transformative experiences.

  • Indy Austin creates experiences that go beyond parties—he designs transformative moments that are difficult to explain
  • For Tony Hawk's office, Austin built a five-car train from old parts on abandoned public land in the Southern California desert
  • The experience centered on a ceremony where the team buried a bottle of whiskey and made a promise about their relationships
" He creates experiences. And when I say creates experiences, I cannot do it justice of what he is capable of and what he has put together for people. "
" he's fucking Willy Wonka "

Philosophy of Experience Design

Austin explains his unique approach to creating experiences, distinguishing his work from event planning or performance art. He focuses on creating personal, internal transformations rather than external spectacles. His method involves placing "stepping stones" that allow participants to create their own stories and meanings, with generosity, place, intimacy, and transgression as core principles.

  • Austin calls himself an experience designer because there's no formal field for designing real-world, in-person transformative experiences
  • An experience differs from an event by creating something that occurs inside you personally, not just externally
  • Austin's work often involves trespassing and breaking conventional boundaries, seeing the world for possibilities like skaters scanning for places to skate
" My job as a designer of experiences is just to place stepping stones. so I'm creating a whole scenario of some type but it's just a series of stepping stones. Story results out of that but it isn't a story I'm telling. It's something that happens personal to you. "
" he works outside the limits. Well, firstly, of of of the law. and of any sort of limitations of what you think, where you think you can go, what you think you can be involved with. "

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