Episode 1

full
Published on:

15th Jan 2025

Benn Klewpatinond on how he's building a thriving consultancy through story telling and personal branding.

In this episode of Why Design?, Chris Whyte sits down with Benn Klewpatinond, founder of Inond Design and the visionary behind the Floatrower fitness machine. Benn’s career is a fascinating mix of engineering, design, and entrepreneurship, spanning corporate roles, consultancy work, and now running his own product realisation business.

Benn shares his journey, from introducing inclusive design at Bristan to working on cutting-edge projects at LA Design, including the Floatrower—a rowing machine that combines the sensation of water rowing with innovative gamification and performance tracking.

The conversation dives deep into:

  • The lessons learned from launching a groundbreaking fitness product.
  • How to balance ambition and authenticity in design.
  • The value of storytelling and personal branding for designers and engineers.

If you’re curious about how creativity meets practicality in physical product development or looking for insights into launching your own products, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways.

Key Takeaways:

  • Building trust with stakeholders and clients is critical for product success.
  • Taking risks, even later in your career, can lead to transformative outcomes.
  • Storytelling and personal branding are as important as technical skills in design.
  • Inclusive design can create meaningful, impactful products when championed effectively.
  • Gamification and user experience are key to engaging products like the Floatrower.

Links & Resources:

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About the Podcast

WHY DESIGN?
For people interested in physical product design and development
Why Design is a podcast exploring the stories behind hardware and physical product development. Hosted by Chris Whyte, founder of Kodu, the show dives into the journeys of founders, senior design leaders, and engineers shaping people and planet-friendly products.

Formerly "The Design Journeys Podcast", each episode uncovers pivotal career moments, lessons learned, and behind-the-scenes insights from industry experts. Whether you’re a designer, engineer, or simply curious about how great hardware products come to life, Why Design offers real stories, actionable advice, and inspiration for anyone passionate about design and innovation.

Join us as we listen, learn, and connect through the stories that define the world of physical product development.

About your host

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Chris Whyte

Hi, I'm your host of Why Design? (Formerly "The Design Journeys Podcast")

I'm also the founder of Kodu - a specialist recruitment consultancy focused exclusively on physical product development. It's the people who I've met in my years in the industry that inspired me to start this podcast.

When I'm not hosting the podcast, I help physical product brands, start-ups and design consultancies identify, attract and hire the best product design & engineering talent ahead of their competitors, across the USA, UK and Europe 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺

I focus exclusively on 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘴!)

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 & 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬:
✅ Do you have high growth plans for your physical product development and engineering division?
✅ Would you like to engage with and source those hard-to-find Design Engineers and Industrial Designers?
✅ Are you spending too much time in the hiring process only to find that the talent doesn't match your expectations?

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬:
✅ Are you interested in joining an exciting start-up, design consultancy or technology brand?
✅ Interested in honest, transparent advice as to which companies would be the best fit for you?

If you agree with any of the above, I know how you feel as I deal with people just like you every day.

I have successfully placed hundreds of design engineers, industrial designers, managers and directors into some of the world's most exciting technology brands, start-ups and consultancies.

My clients tell me they work with me because:

⭐ I focus on long-term relationship building, not transactions
⭐ I speak their language and understand their businesses and job roles
⭐ I’m professional, yet friendly and very approachable
⭐ My robust process significantly reduces time-to-hire

I’ve worked within consumer electronics, homewares, kitchen appliances, e-bikes, medical devices, gaming controllers, furniture, life-sciences, audio-equipment, vacuum cleaners and more!

Typically, I recruit the following roles:
💡 VP Engineering
💡 Engineering Director
💡 Design Manager
💡 Industrial Designer
💡 Product Designer (products not apps!)
💡 Product Design Engineer
💡 Mechanical Design Engineer
💡 Mechanical Engineer

Outside of work, I'm a wannabe rock star and a father to two teenagers. I support Manchester United and I'm terrible at FIFA/FC24 🤓

If you want to talk about my work or anything else, message me on here and I'll respond as soon as I can. Or you can reach me via:

chris@teamkodu.com

UK: +44 7538 928 518
US: +1 862 298 5088