Born in the Netherlands from mixed backgrounds, raised in Switzerland, educated at an International School, and having the luck of parents who like to travel, I was exposed to a lot of cultural diversity from a young age, and now consider myself a third culture kid.
In my vision of technology and design being a natural advancement in human evolution, I see the value in bringing a certain increase in value to everyone's lives with those little aesthetic, functional and adaptive transformations that new designs can offer.
When I was little, I grew up designing and building everything I could think of with whatever tools I had at hand. Encouraged by my parents to frequently try out new sports, activities, and music, I was exposed to a broad range of skills both independently and socially. Having majored in Industrial Design and attained a PDEng degree in User System Interaction, I love the experience of being able to converge the different aspects of Design, Technology, User and Business.
I believe that professional growth should be a balance between an academic and industrial approach. A PDEng (Professional Doctorate in Engineering) at USI (User-System Interaction) perfectly facilitated this vision, as one of the demands of the program was to work together with a company to deliver a unique concept to the market. The two years of the degree were tough, but definitely carved a more insightful and responsible human being and designer out of me.
Designing is a way of asking questions and philosophising about hypothetical futures. It is a way of answering society and also a way of transforming it. As a designer, one has the responsibility to be curious and daring but also have a sense of the diversities in ethics, culture and respect. To me, when something is designed, it has this complete "air" to it. When something looks good, feels good, and functions well, and has that indescribable completeness within it (whether it is, for example, because of the rounded corners, or because you don't even notice the transitions from one state to another, because it adapts to the context I am in, because it feels so natural), "that" is design for me.
Feel free to email me for advice, project-work, or just to say hello!