Speaker: Konrad Sauer

Konrad's living proof that you never know where a career in the creative business will lead.

He grew up as a self-professed dorky kid hiding in the depths of the art room at school. Overcoming his tendency to sit quietly in the back row, Konrad entered the ad world as a graphic designer and began climbing the agency ladder in Toronto. After 10 years of living the dream as an Art Director, he left the ad business to regain his soul — and to pursue a passion for crafting custom handplanes, full time.

In his shop of many wonders just minutes from the Fluxible venue, Konrad builds handplanes with the artful eye of a trained designer, the practiced skill of a furniture maker, and a vast cache of some of the finest exotic woods you'll ever see. As the one-man band behind Sauer & Steiner Toolworks, Konrad seeks to exceed his customers' expectations in favour of industry awards and recognition (though they're known to appear on his doorstep). And according to his lucky customers around the world, Konrad's planes work as well as — perhaps even better than — they look.

As you can see, Konrad builds insanely great hand planes.