Carl grew up in Sweden, where good design is less a discipline than a disposition — functional, deliberate, never showy. That point of view followed him to Lake Oswego, Oregon, and into everything he makes.

His cars reflect it. A 1995 300tdi Defender 90. A 1986 Mercedes 300GD — featured in the car photography in this portfolio. His current project is a Mercedes 814DA, a Transporter 2 imported from the Netherlands that most people on this side of the Atlantic have never seen, currently being restored and converted into a camper. The 814DA suits him: capable, uncommon, built for distance.

His instinct has always been to go deeper rather than wider — to understand how something actually works before deciding how to use it. That applies whether he's sourcing a van from the Netherlands, shooting cars and adventure travel for publications like the Snow Peak catalogue, or teaching himself Claude Code with the same rigor he'd bring to any craft. He doesn't chase new tools. He learns them until he knows exactly where they make the work better.