Robbe Nagel
Industrial Design student at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Specializing in physical experience design, urban product innovation, & entrepreneurship
21-07-2000
's-Hertogenbosch
Once upon
a time...
You can never predict where you will end up, but looking back it is always perfectly clear how you became the person you are today. Looking back at my past, I can also see where my interests and passions have come from. Here follows an insight into that past and how it led me to become an Industrial Designer.
Childhood
My passion for creating and designing can be traced back to my childhood. It started with my holidays on the beaches of Belgium and the green hills of Germany. I used to build sandcastles on beaches, and dikes in rivers and I crafted tools such as swords and bows. My love for nature and being outside has never left me and plays an important role in my motivation to not only pursue opportunities for a future world but also to preserve the beautiful things already existing today. Also, at home, there was never a lack of LEGO, train tracks, paper, and markers lying around. With my brother, we built and drew all things imaginable. While seemingly trivial, it were these first hobbies of mine that got me interested in making and inventing.
I have also been inspired by movies. For example, watching Robots, a movie about a robot inventor that goes out to the big city, was the first time I decided I wanted to be an inventor. There is just something magical about being able to solve problems and help others by using your ideas and hands. It is also why I fervently believe that people can change the world for the better.
Teenagehood
If my childhood would be characterized by physical playing and learning, then my teenagehood would be the opposite. Digital playing and learning. I got my first laptop when I was 10 and it opened a whole new world that was previously unknown to me.
For example, I expressed many of my ideas through Minecraft from the ages of ten to sixteen. I learned aesthetics as a builder. I learned about collaboration, and responsibility, and opened up to meeting new people through running a 200+ daily user server in a team of ten people. And I learned programming by making my own plugins, as well as video editing through running a small YouTube channel.
In my second year of high school, I started following the course of Technasium. This is a course where you collaborate with an existing company on an existing problem to work out innovative solutions. I was instantly hooked as it combined all the passions and skills I had collected since my childhood. It allowed me to create things, envision future worlds, work together with others and visualize our ideas. With the teams I worked in, we have delivered concepts that I am still proud of to this day (see Unified Transport System and Dutch pavilion).
This course inspired me to start my own small creative design consultancy, called Provime, which opened me up to an interest in entrepreneurship and networking. I also participated in several innovation and design competitions where I ended up as finalist in some and winner of the TU/e Innovation Challenge for high school students. My first introduction to my future university.
I also have my family to thank for my endless hunger for knowledge and understanding. During dinner, I always sat down with my parents and brothers, and we talked and discussed all kinds of topics. Movies, music, pop culture, science, technology, politics, economics, sustainability, design,… We all brought different perspectives and opinions to the table and so challenged each other on our own.
