While the Smiley Headset Cap wasn’t a very technical build, it holds a special place in my heart because it’s perhaps the first of what I consider the “real” PerilloWorks projects. Some might say Laundry Day deserves that title, but this was the first video where I wrote a script, recorded voiceover, and tried to fit narration into the art of making.

I remember being nervous to show this video to anyone - even my wife.

This was mid-COVID, April 2021, and at the time I was biking from the Upper East Side to work in the Bronx every day to avoid taking the subway. The traffic and chaos of NYC’s streets nearly broke me, so I made this little stem cap to remind myself to breathe and smile, no matter how insane the roads got.