Episode Highlights:
- Six months into the North role: keeping core talent (kite and wing designers), adding graphic design and admin capacity, and a shout-out to the original New Zealand team that built the brand
- Design approach: thinking in systems and architecture, staying radically open-minded, questioning line lengths, aspect ratios and connection systems, then dropping back into “who is the customer and how do we make it more fun”
- Innovation reality: most disruption still comes from outside the industry; entrenched connection systems can slow change; useful cross-pollination between wing, kite, windsurf and foil
- Barriers to entry vs. mastery: easier assembly, lower cost and more approachable gear for people who ride a few days a month, while still offering the nuance that keeps daily riders chasing the last 5 seconds of glide
- Current riding: MIDI Pro boards as a daily driver, Boost masts, exploring foil-drive, Nervas wings, and the more speed-focused Modes — plus prototypes already in the works
- Growing the pie: foiling as a gateway sport (pump foil on lakes, foil-assist, wing), speaking differently to first-time buyers versus five-year veterans, and why waterman culture beats putting people in boxes
- Advice for junior designers: curiosity first, radical open-mindedness, self-discipline, humility, and remembering it was a team that got you there