Design helps us make things better!

You know how it goes. Some kids love to take things apart. And then, try to put them back together. Then, take them apart again, and try to put them together again. Over and over. sometimes they get it right, sometimes they do not. Yet, they do not get discouraged, but become even more curious. I was such a child. I wanted to find how things work and why they work the way they do. From this desire to learn and the attained knowledge, there was only a small step to improvement and perfection. I was drawing, cutting, and gluing things together all the time, just to try what they could become. And because I was also good in math, I was accepted to high school study program with emphasis in math and physics. As it later turned out, it was time well spent in company of great students. However, during this time I realized
I could not stop trying new things and leave the “do it yourself” projects behind. Naturally, the solution to this situation was to study design after graduating high school. Design was not such
a trendy word back then. Many people did not even know what it means. They were even more surprised when I submitted only one application for my university studies. They wondered at my choice of field of study and department that was rather unusual as well. It was the Department of Furniture Design.  And then, I wondered too. I wondered when I tried to make sense of incomprehensible Mikado lines on the blackboard during my first descriptive geometry lecture. When the professor asked me to name different types of wood. To me, all of the wooden samples were made out of, well, wood. When one semester studying architecture did not help me figure out the length of an elevator shaft. Despite all of the unanswered questions,
I successfully finished my studies. In addition, during my university time, my classmate and
I established a design company. We learned how to apply the theory we learned at school in real life and in the business world. We designed interiors, tried to come up with new designs, and tried to make living at the same time. After graduation, we continued working in our design company, until I was allured by the world far away from home.
At the turn of the millennium, I decided it was a time to start a new chapter of my life. I wanted to spend more time creating design and see how it could really work. Next, I spent three pleasant years in the design studio of Mr. Martin Ballendat, in the German town of Simbach am Inn. I can easily say, this was my doctoral study in practice. Although, I came out of this experience without a diploma, I gained a lot of knowledge and confidence that design practice can really work. It is all about making things better; better for the customer, society, environment, and for our future. It is my belief and I am trying to apply it in my design work.