From Foundation to Future
A professional journey shaped by pattern, people, and purpose
This timeline is more than a résumé — it’s a reflection of the steps, shifts, and sparks that shaped the way I think, build, and contribute. From luxury retail to life-scale strategy, each chapter added depth to how I approach design, behavior, and bespoke experience. Not every path was linear, but every one was intentional.
Foundations in Pattern and Precision
2013–2016 — Lichtenberg Oberstufengymnasium, Bruchköbel, Germany
My advanced courses were in Biology and Chemistry — subjects rooted in logic, systems, and the elegance of natural structure.
At home, I watched my father, a metal engineer, teach apprentices the science of materials. His home workshop was a place of uncompromising precision : machines maintained like instruments, tools returned to the exact same place, welds that looked like brushstrokes. I learned how to observe, how to listen, how to care about the unseen.
During this time, I also served as School and Class Representative, took part in Club of Rome initiatives, and represented our school at a conference in Hamburg. These experiences — scientific, social, and symbolic — quietly informed my view of the world as something not just to be navigated, but shaped.
I began my journey in luxury retail at 18, joining Gucci Frankfurt just after high school. What started as a student job quickly became something more — I was entrusted with key responsibilities in the menswear department and immersed in the rhythms of high-touch service.
Without realizing it, I was already running informal A/B tests — rearranging visual displays based on instinct and watching closely how clients responded. The patterns intrigued me. What did they notice ? What made them pause ? These questions became an early compass.
Over the years, I returned to Gucci across three cities — Frankfurt, London, and Berlin — each tenure sharpening my sense of luxury’s many expressions. In London, I supported the Fine Jewelry & Watches department within the historic Selfridges space, stepping into a slower-paced, symbolic side of the brand. In Berlin, I balanced full-time work with my studies, applying global VM standards while quietly refining my personal philosophy on client engagement.
These formative years offered more than just frontline experience. They cultivated a deeper curiosity — one that would shape my future research, my design sensibility, and my commitment to crafting thoughtful, emotionally intelligent retail environments.
At ESCP, I pursued a Bachelor in Management that was as mobile as it was multicultural. Over the course of three years, I lived and studied across Paris, Turin, and Berlin — each city adding its own layer of complexity and context to my education.
I learned how to frame problems systematically, how to evaluate decisions through multiple lenses, and how to consider the human variable within every strategic move.
My academic path included courses in Consumer Psychology, CSR & Business Ethics, Human Behavior, and Intercultural Skills — modules that deepened my understanding of people, systems, and intent.
My bachelor thesis, “Impact of Personality Type on Purchasing Behavior with Focus on Impulsive Buying Behavior”, sought to decode the psychological drivers behind decision-making. Yet as I compared academic models to real-world patterns I had witnessed in luxury retail, I found a gap. That tension between theory and practice sparked a deeper curiosity — one I would later explore through my Master’s.
Immersion in Luxury Brand Strategy
2020-2021 — Richmond American International University London and Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design, London, United Kingdom
Graduated with Distinction
Dual Degree : American & British
At the beginning of 2020, as borders across Europe began to close, I made the difficult decision to leave Berlin — where I was completing the final year of my Bachelor — and relocate to London. With only a few days' notice, I packed my things and left, not knowing if I would ever return.
I completed my degree remotely, sitting final exams in a quiet London flat while the world stood still. That forced pause — emotional and disorienting — offered rare space to reflect.
The questions that had quietly surfaced during my time at Gucci and throughout my undergraduate studies began to crystallize :
What makes luxury desirable ?
What drives a client to feel emotionally connected to a brand, a product, a moment ?
This led me to pursue a Master's in Luxury Brand Management — a dual degree between Richmond University and Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design.
If ESCP had taught me to analyze systems and think across disciplines, this next chapter invited something more nuanced : the psychology of desire, the architecture of aspiration, the role of narrative and symbolism in high-value consumption.
At Condé Nast, I was immersed in the culture of fashion, publishing, and brand storytelling — learning not just how to manage luxury brands, but how to understand their deeper codes. I felt creatively and intellectually alive in a way I hadn’t before.
My MA thesis, "Exploring the Interconnection Between Luxury Goods, Purchasing Behavior, and Personality", became the natural continuation of my Bachelor research — only now, with sharper tools, deeper insight, and a renewed sense of purpose.
This was more than a degree. It was the chapter in which I fully stepped into the world I had glimpsed before — and began shaping my own language within it.
Interior Design & CAD Exploration
2022 — UAL Chelsea College of Arts, London, United Kingdom
With a sharpened sense of strategy and storytelling, I found myself increasingly drawn to the how—how things are built, structured, and felt in space.
I enrolled at the University of the Arts London in 2022, focusing on both residential and commercial interior design. But beyond aesthetic styling, my deeper motivation was to gain fluency in the technical side of design: materials, floorplans, spatial logic, and CAD-based visualization.
For me, this wasn’t just about interiors. It was about understanding how emotion moves through a room — how light, sound, structure, and sequence shape perception. I saw this as an extension of brand experience : not just how something looks, but how it lives.
Learning CAD was like learning a new language. It gave me tools to translate ideas into form, and it opened the door to eventually collaborating with architects and engineers — building bridges between narrative, design, and structure.
This chapter laid the groundwork for a future where storytelling, spatial design, and sensorial experience would converge.
A Life’s Work in Progress
2022-Present — Erich’s Project Limited, London, United Kingdom
Some ideas arrive fully formed, others are shaped slowly through experience. Erich’s Project was born from both — a personal framework, a company, and a vision for rethinking how we live, connect, and create.
What began as a frustration with the dilution of sacred spaces — and a longing for places where values are truly shared — evolved into an ongoing exploration of designing frameworks for belonging. Drawing on my studies in consumer behavior, interior design, and luxury brand management, I envisioned a way of harmonizing craft, technology, and nature while remaining true to one’s internal compass.
At its heart, Erich’s Project is a long-term manifesto — a love letter to ethical design, modular thinking, and shared belonging. It strives to create systems, environments, and communities that feel intentional, connected, and future-ready.
Its purpose is not bound by timelines or outputs; it exists as a guiding philosophy — one that continues to evolve, quietly shaping how I think, design, and collaborate.
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Phase One introduces the foundational blueprint : a constellation of four unique locations, each designed to serve a distinct purpose in a reimagined model of living.
The centerpiece is C1-US, a fully self-sustaining city on the U.S. West Coast featuring everything from vertical farms and autonomous transport to wellness centers and collaborative laboratories.
This is paired with R1-CH, a secluded alpine retreat in the Swiss mountains designed for full body and mind resets, alongside two more urban, lifestyle-focused locations : 01-FR in Paris and 02-US in New York.
Together, these sites offer diverse expressions of the same core idea: that sustainability, human connection, and visionary infrastructure can coexist.
At the heart of it all is Remus, an AI-driven operating system designed to support logistics, privacy, and personalization without compromising on soul.
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Phase Two expands the global reach and deepens the philosophical mission of the Project.
Planned locations include :
C2-DE ( Germany )
03-UK ( United Kingdom )
04-IT ( Italy )
R2-US ( United States )
Each builds on the foundation of Phase One, extending the network across Europe and North America.
These sites are envisioned not merely as residences or retreats but as interconnected ecosystems—spaces where culture, ethics, innovation, and personal growth are interwoven into daily life.
While planning is paused, the vision remains intact : to create not just better spaces, but a better rhythm for living.
The Atelier Chapter :
A Return, Reimagined
2023-2025 — Bang & Olufsen, London, United Kingdom
Towards the end of 2023, I stepped into a new chapter by joining Bang & Olufsen’s Global Flagship in Mayfair. What began as a sales role quickly evolved into a deeper focus on Atelier, B&O’s bespoke program dedicated to craftsmanship, personalization, and storytelling.
In 2025, I was appointed one of six global Atelier Champions, acting as the UK’s primary point of contact for bespoke commissions. I worked closely with private clients, architects, designers, and B&O’s Factory 5 team in Denmark to bring fully bespoke audio-visual systems to life — integrating sound, space, and materiality in ways unique to each project.
This chapter became a space where emotional intelligence met material fluency : guiding clients through bespoke finish selections, spatial planning, and the sensory dimensions of sound. It was also a bridge between product and brand strategy, helping shape elevated experiences while preserving B&O’s heritage of timeless design.
Though my time at B&O has concluded, the experience sharpened how I approach design narratives, collaborative partnerships, and bespoke thinking — all of which continue to inform the projects I pursue today.
The Pursuit Continues
Present-Future — Planet Earth, Milky Way
The journey doesn’t end with any single chapter. The principles behind Erich’s Project continue to guide how I approach design, materiality, and cultural connection, shaping the projects I choose to pursue and the collaborations still ahead.
The focus now is on exploration and creation — rethinking objects, spaces, and systems in ways that foster permanence, belonging, and meaning. Each step builds on what came before, yet remains open to new directions and unexpected partnerships.
This chapter is still unfolding. Guided more by values than titles, and by curiosity more than certainty, I remain open to what’s next — so long as it aligns with craftsmanship, emotional intelligence, and the quiet power of design.