Hello David, please tell us, who are you?

I live in Båstad with my fantastic wife Martina and our energetic 2.5-year-old son Sixten. I studied the Industrial Design program at IKDC in Lund, where I delved into design and innovation, and now I work as an Industrial Designer and Project Manager here at Avalon. When I’m not designing, you’ll sometimes find me on a surfboard, sailing on the sea, or biking on mountain bike trails. I also love experimenting with 3D printers and other technical gadgets – but to be honest, the 3D printer is mostly used right now to fix my son’s toys that break continuously. Life is a mix of family, adventures in nature, and creative experiments.

How do you combine your role as a project manager with your role as an industrial designer?

I think the two disciplines go hand in hand. Industrial design is a multidisciplinary category that’s present throughout the projects but changes focus in the different phases. Hence, you become a bit of a generalist and gain a fundamental understanding of many aspects of a project, which is a cornerstone in project management. The integration of project management and industrial design ensures that the product is not only aesthetically appealing and user-friendly but also manufacturable, cost-effective, and delivered on time.

What is innovation to you and how do you use it in your work?

In the majority of projects, I work with traditional innovation where details are refined, functions improved, the user experience enhanced, but where there is already some base to start from. It is incredibly fun when you succeed in taking a product to the next level. A bit more rarely, you get the chance to work with more radical innovation where you push the boundaries of today’s technology and even the concepts themselves. At those times, there is often a big focus on developing different concepts,

paths to take and visualizing the goal image so that the whole team pulls in the same direction. There is often a lot of “head-scratching” in such projects, but it’s incredibly exciting to work with bleeding-edge technology and uncharted territory.

What is your greatest source of motivation in your work?

It may sound cliché, but being involved in improving someone’s quality of life is very self-fulfilling. I think this can be achieved through a variety of projects, but med-tech is one such category that I have worked with in recent years. Although it can be very tricky regulatory-wise and time-consuming, it is an amazing feeling when you see a product you have worked on for a long time, actually come out on the market and help people.

What is it like to work at Avalon Innovation?

It is very balanced, which I think runs through the company at all levels. This, I believe, greatly contributes to the success of Avalon. Having a balance between work and private life is important to me as I find a lot of inspiration for work-related things even in my free time. Balance at work is also incredibly important. I work on the project side, and the assignments always feel well thought out from the start. There is planned breathing-room in the timeline because we know that product development is not a straight line. To maintain a high level of innovation, we sometimes need to allow ourselves to explore the more “crazy” concepts within a project. These side tracks may not always lead to the desired result, but if you never have time to test them, you often choose the safe option. To maintain a high level of innovation, there must be room for mistakes and dead ends.

David is a part of Avalon’s project operations. We have extensive experience in managing and executing comprehensive commitments within our own project organization, regardless of size and phase.