My name is Ron Valstar and this is my digital playground.

I was born in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands on the 21st of april 1974. After I got my masters degree in 2000 I started Shapers with some fellow students. Our headquarters became Amsterdam and of course pretty soon I got sick of traveling (Apeldoorn Amsterdam is roughly one hour by train). Then I fell in love so I just had to move to Amsterdam (even though I had always said I’d never leave my hometown). In 2007 we gave up Shapers and I started freelancing.

I started out as a graphic designer (well, maybe illustrator is more accurate but I thought graphic design would be easier to get a job in). Then, somewhere during Interaction Design, I started programming (more out of necessity than interest, because there weren’t that many programmers in that course). Then I got hooked, I’d draw stuff with a ballpoint and then make it come to life just by typing lines of code… magic.

I also collect useless things that are nice to look at. My girlfriend only allows me the mantelshelf and my half of the desk to display my junk and collect dust. This useless collection contains a wide variety of sea shells for instance. A couple of these shells contain an unsorted collection of plant seeds. Which I will plant this spring (the exciting thing is that I have no idea what plants they’re from). One shell contains the dead remains of a little crustacean (I would not have taken this shell if I had known he was in there but he was hiding). Then there are a few skulls and bones. And course rocks, pebbles, sand and fossiles. I used to have a number of old computer parts but the only one that is not hidden away in a box is a prehistoric magnetic core memory board (8K x 12).

And I try to keep in shape a little. I used to roam the Dutch forests on my mountain bike. Then my bike got nicked so I started scaling half- and quarterpipes on my Salomons. Aggressive inline skating is great if you want to wreck your joints. So after I mastered the backflip I hid my skates and bought a black gi. In ko ryu taijutsu you can at least blame your injuries on your opponent (well at least my girlfriend does).