Most of my life I have been a student. So far I have not inspired many people, did any great deeds or even lived an overly wild and uncontrolled live, so this is probably not the awe-inspiring biography you were hoping for.

On the 18th of september 1975 I was born at the Medical Center Alkmaar, in the Netherlands. From very early on I liked to draw. At school I would always sit in the very back of the class. There I could draw in my notebooks without being disturbed by the teachers. I filled a lot of notebooks, and every parent teacher conference the teachers would praise the interest I showed in their classes, commending me on making so many notes. I guess that when they finally found out that I was not hanging on their every word, they were a *little* disappointed.

My interest in design I found later in university. I seemed to have a knack for spatial reasoning, so I chose to study Industrial Design at the Delft University of technology. Looking back, I don't think I could have made a better choice. It's one of the only studies where you get to play with clay and finger paint on a university level. It was there that I learned that: 1) all complex problems have simple easy-to-understand solutions, which also do not work, 2) Robert Browning was right: less is more, 3) there is so much beauty in the world, 4) the best brainstorm sessions are done late at night in a bar, 5) the results of those brainstorm sessions might appear to be less brilliant the next morning.

The last year of my study I relocated to Zurich, Switzerland. Which must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. There I did my graduation work at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich.