EXTRACT:

How do you think more women could be encouraged to pursue a career in design / product management? I don’t think there is a barrier as such; it’s more a lack of motivation in most women to work in this field. Of the seven team members working in the Duotone R&D department, three are women; Xuerao Zhang is a designer / developer, Julia Keller is our intern working on testing materials, plus myself. I think that’s a healthy average.

Were you always interested in product design? My dad is a hobby carpenter, so from an early age I had experience of working with wood. The first time product design had a more profound effect on me was when I got my first pair of sandwich construction skis aged 12; the moment I suddenly became a way better skier.