personal

On a beautiful sunny day in October I caught my first rays of light in a tiny village in Switzerland. The first few years of my young life must have been void of dramatic events because I cannot really remember much of this time. My first memories of the past start at school The last few schoolyears at the local "Bezirksschule" (High School) are still very present and I love to remember many jokes and tricks, beneath that lightened up hard studies.

After school I decided, against the objections of many people in my personal environment, to do a mechanical apprenticeship. Hence I started in summer the apprenticeship as a metal constructor. The next four years were characterised by steal, aluminium and chrome, facts and figures, drawings and plans, to which I was exposed to at the local technical college. Stressful final examinations followed and shortly after I was compelled to do Swiss military service. Some months later I went to South Africa where my (European) worldview got disarranged for the first time.

After working some years as a metal constructor, I decided to follow a new path and pursued three years of studies at the Argovian University of Applied Technology to become a business IT manager. By means of these studies I became aware of a world of strategies plans and management imperatives. It was a hard yet interesting time mixed with lively discussions. During this time I changed my work place from the metal construction workshop to the office world of a booming IT sector, and I worked for a good two years as IT supporter and consultant near Zuerich. After passing the degree as business IT manager I became a junior project manager for IT projects. Yet, due to the economic slump in many sectors I lost my work and faced a new challenge.

This developmental trajectory laid a path for me to eventually realise the dream of running my own company. Having been offered the use of a colleague's art studio, I could not resist and established at the end of 2003 “konstruktiv – objekte aus metall” (constructive – objects made of metal).

Oliver Karrer-Luescher, CEO konstruktiv - objekte aus metall