Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

Actually I have - a cook book. Yeah it's true.

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

I was born in Helsinki-Finland 1975 where I spent most of my life.

Skateboarding was the only thing I was interested in for a very long time, but in the end - I guess for the need of cash - I ended up working in a restaurant as a chef. A creative job, but there was something missing so I started to study graphic design.

Professionally about 10 years ago I made the switch and started as a graphic designer. My appeal to the web changed radically when a good friend introduced me to Flash3.

Believe it or not – I ended up studying programming in a polytechnic after playing with that tiny script window in Flash4 night after night.

Today I work as a technical consultant, programmer and producer for the fashion company Diesel in Northern-Italy.

  What do you do for inspiration?

I get inspired from endless amount of different things, but I would say that most of it comes from sharing ideas with other creative people.

Q. Please list 3 of your favorite sites.

Google – Scary but true

Newstoday - Today's news is important

Donnie Darko - Still one of the top sites ever done

  What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

My son Milo is far the biggest achievement. Professionally I think it's still to come.

  What software couldn't you live without?

Lots of different software brings food to the table, but hopefully I could live without any.

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

Lots of Diesel stuff.

  Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

A There is so much insanely cool stuff coming out from different companies, so it's really hard to put down any order... Anyway here goes and without any extra comments:

Daddy

Hi-Res!

North Kingdom

  What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

Hopefully a lot.

  Who is your target audience?

Anybody armed with a Flash plug-in.

  What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

I wish I could find the materials for that site in my backups. It was my personal site. One image per page with only a forward link to the next page.

  Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

Actually I have - a cook book. Yeah it's true. For sure I'll contribute a book if the opportunity comes across.

  What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash? How long did you spend on it? Is it still online?

Oh no, it was a quiz game done with flash4 and Generetor.

Actually I got the project as a souvenir from the programmer who I replaced in the company. I don't know how many days and nights I spent going through his code but it was many! Not online anymore - RIP.

  Do you think Flash is here to stay?

I'm one of the believers.

  What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

There are lot of really good people without any school background, so I would say yes.

Schools are also different - I think what is more important is to learn how to study the areas of your interest.

  How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

When I started I studied tons of tutorials and examined other people's code found online.

Just hard work by trial and error nothing special.

I would say two things for beginners:

1. Start by looking outside the box and make content with other applications to support your vision.

2. Build your personal playground and go crazy.

  What is the most expensive thing you've bought in the last week?

Nothing expensive really, just a new sketchbook.

  What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

Hmmmm, yes. I have an obsession with cool t-shirts and sneakers.

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

As soon as you stop rowing in the stream you will start to go backwards.

  It's been a privilege, thanks very much.

Thank you, It was a pleasure.