He comes to IDEO.org after seven years as an industrial designer with IDEO. Over the past decade he has built up his design experience working at a variety of well-recognized European design firms such as Gregerpauschitz Design in Vienna, Austria, Feldmann und Schuldchen Design in Hamburg, Germany, and Fuore Design in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2005, Martin moved to San Francisco, where he first became a designer at fuseproject. There, he helped design the $100 laptop, a milestone in his career. It was this project where he came to recognize the value of a product’s sustainability and the social responsibility of a designer. More recently Martin’s work has expanded beyond the physicality of products. A number of strategic projects have made system thinking an intrinsic part of his design approach.

Martin Schnitzer was born in Graz, Austria, where he graduated with a degree in Industrial Design at the FHJoanneum in 2002. On weekends, you’re likely to find Martin rock climbing or mountain biking in the Sierra Nevadas. He enjoys the outdoors and considers the mountains a balance to his life in the Bay Area.