Robb Owen - Independent Creative Developer
Robb is an independent creative developer from South Wales who loves helping organisations to build ambitious yet accessible web projects. Sometimes, he also writes in the third person.
There’s a word in the Welsh language that you might have come across, part of that wonderful class of words that defy direct one-to-one translation into English: Hiraeth. Broadly speaking, hiraeth is a deep sense of longing for some other time, people or place where you felt at home. It has been described as the lingering presence of absence; not really nostalgia, but a sort of gnawing, idealised homesickness to be somewhere else and be part of something else that no longer exists or, perhaps, h
In the last couple of years I have developed a complicated relationship with my phone. Whether it's scrolling past an endless wall of hate on Twitter or feeling my mood buckle under the weight of every TikTok or Reel that I push skywards, the tiny computer in my pocket has started to feel a bit like that box from Dune – there's nothing but pain in there. Increasingly though, it's not just "in there" that's the problem. Over-reliance on my phone has often left me feeling like I'm not being forced
The web industry is full to the brim with tales of side-projects that grew into successful businesses and, like many of us, I'll often find myself tinkering away on an idea or three after I've finished with my day-job. Whilst it's definitely an enticing prospect, working on a side-project is not always sunshine and Lambos though – sometimes they just don't work out. If you're reading this, there's a chance that you might have recently abandoned (or are considering abandoning) a side-project. Man