John Atkins

Where in Kromek do you work?

I work in the Design Department from the Sedgefield, County Durham office.

What did you do before you joined Kromek?

Product Designer for screen printable electronics company based in Catterick. Prior to this freelanced in London for Samsung Design Europe and other large design companies in the city. Prior to this, worked in Hong Kong developing designs for Vtech.

What do you do at Kromek?

I’m like an octopus at Kromek, I have a tentacle in most things’ product related. I engage in projects from the initial customer engagement encouraging design led thinking within our decision-making processes right through concept development/ prototyping into production and testing of the final product.

What’s the best thing about working for Kromek?

The best thing is seeing something you have designed being in the hands of the customers, an example would be the D3S with the security detail of the US president. Also when its someone’s birthday and there is an unwritten rule that they need to provide cake for the whole office!

What’s the worst thing?

Bringing in cake on your birthday for the whole office to eat!

Definitely the line for the toilets, there needs to be a lighting system to show if they are occupied or not.

What do you do in your spare time?

I’m an amateur boxer, I love walking up large mountains and going on adventures in the lake district sometime wild camping. I’m learning Italian and the piano. I also do property development on the weekends. So quite a few things, as well as keep the wife happy.