I was fifteen, living in East Germany, and after the Wall came down I jumped right into every opportunity I could find. I built ›Happy Company‹ – a small company that organised kids' birthday parties. Then ›Moon Design‹, creating brand and graphic work for local businesses. I became editor in chief of ›CHAOS‹ – awarded the second best school magazine in Germany. We even interviewed the forger of Hitler’s diaries, Konrad Kujau. We organised legendary parties and I worked with Coca-Cola to host their first East German event.

None of it was especially sophisticated. All of it was a steep learning curve and a lot of fun. Looking back, the pattern was already there: imagine something new, rally people around it, make something happen.

That instinct has never left me. I just learned to dream bigger.

European design

I studied design in three cities – Cologne, Milan, Helsinki. I learned to think about problems from more than one angle, and these years fundamentally shaped everything that came after. Design teaches you to start with the problem or the person, not the solution. It also encouraged me to lean into complexity and uncertainty – which turned out to be useful preparation for everything that followed.

Later, at Aegis Media, I helped establish one of the first in-house service design capabilities in the world. I was also part of building Isobar – the first digital creative network of its kind. From there I joined Veryday, an award-winning design and innovation agency, where I established the customer experience practice.

One project I’m particularly proud of from the Veryday years: ›Experio Lab‹ – where we embedded service design capability directly into the county council in Värmland, Sweden. That model was then scaled across seven other counties. It’s one thing to design a solution. It’s another to create sustainable change that continues to flourish long after you’ve left.

My East German heritage keeps me humble. I grew up in a country where LEGO and bananas were hard to come by – but where helping each other was the key to everything. Where a lack of materials and jeans created resilience and resourcefulness. I genuinely appreciate the enormous joy that comes with the freedom to express, create and dream big. It’s not something I take for granted.

Stockholm has been home for fifteen years now. I live here with my wife and three children who teach me things and keep me honest. I love the Nordics: humanistic, wellbeing-oriented, digitally mature, collaborative. It’s shaped how I think and work more than I probably realise.

I love connecting dots. Bringing people together. Finding the question underneath the question. Prototyping is at the heart of my approach to most things – yes, I did watch a lot of MacGyver when we first got Western TV.

And I still get the same feeling I had at fifteen when something suddenly exists that didn’t before. Goosebumps. My favourite KPI.