I was designing sports gear long before my degree; it’s just that nobody was asking me to back then. A cable ski driven by a combustion engine, homemade cast climbing holds, a ski rail, a hangboard machined in a fablab: at my place, every idea ends up as a prototype, then as a test session (and sometimes back in the workshop).
As a work-study apprentice at Eiffage, I learned to run large-scale solar and wind projects. On the summit of Chimborazo, at 6,263 m, I learned that you can always go a little further than you think.
Next challenge: designing tomorrow’s sports products on your team, with a real engineering department and a little less duct tape. Available from April 2027, in France or on the other side of the world. My bag is already packed.
A · Design: Sports design
Sports gear designed, built and tested in the field.
A hangboard with edges and jugs to train finger strength, machined on a 3-axis CNC mill in a fablab.
It all starts with a raw wooden board. I design the edges and jugs (depths, radii, spacing) to train every type of grip, then the fablab’s 3-axis CNC mill carves out every shape.
A short but complete project: hand ergonomics, CAD design, machining preparation and production on a machine tool, all the way to a board hung up and used at every session.
Skills applied: 3-axis CNC machining, CAD design, Ergonomics, Fablab, Climbing.
Custom climbing holds: shaped in polystyrene, molded, cast in resin, then bolted onto the wall.
From the idea to the hold bolted on the wall, I reproduced a real manufacturing process at workshop scale, in three steps: model, mold, cast.
Each step has its pitfalls: designing the shape so it releases from the mold without breaking, chasing out air bubbles, planning the bolt hole, and checking that the hold takes a climber’s weight. The result: custom holds, shaped around the moves I want to train.
Skills applied: Molding & casting, Materials, Manufacturing process, Prototyping, Climbing.
An overhanging wall on a timber frame, designed and built at home.
A training wall designed as a small structure: a timber frame, an overhanging panel, bolted-on holds and a crash mat.
Choosing the angle, sizing the uprights to take the loads of a climber lunging or falling, keeping routes easy to change: a very hands-on first application of structural analysis, on something I use to get better.
Skills applied: Timber structures, Structural sizing, Design, Construction, Climbing.
A PVC slide rail on small wooden triangles, almost at ground level, to practice tricks.
A do-it-yourself freestyle feature: a PVC pipe as the sliding surface, small wooden triangles to hold it a few centimeters off the ground.
The spec fits in four verbs: slide, hold, move, cost little. A smooth slide, supports that stay put on landing, a light and portable setup, low enough to try tricks safely.
Skills applied: Requirements, Material selection, Fabrication, Freestyle skiing.
A homemade cable ski: a combustion engine on the ground drives the cable, which runs up through a pulley at the top of the tower and pulls the rider across the water.
It all started with a simple question: how do you wakeboard without a boat? I designed and built the whole system: the engine-driven drum that winds the cable, the tower and its return pulley.
I had to choose the transmission to get the right cable speed, make the tower withstand the pull at every start, and tune the whole thing for a smooth, progressive pull with no jerking. Then test it on the water, as the rider.
Skills applied: Power transmission, Loads & structure, Design & build, Field testing, Wakeboarding.
A project I would love to build: an eco-friendly, simple and reproducible pair of skis.
The idea: prove that good skis can be made with cleaner materials and a simple process that others can reproduce.
The goal is also to understand first-hand how a ski’s materials and mechanics work: core, fibers, camber, flex, torsion. The planned approach: shape and material research, prototypes, then on-snow testing.
Skills applied: Materials, Ski mechanics, Eco-design, Prototyping, Skiing.
B · Build: Engineering projects · Icam
Analysis, CAD, prototypes and testing.
Studying the physics and materials of a drone arm to find the lightest, strongest design possible.
A drone arm has to be stiff, absorb impacts and weigh as little as possible: every gram saved means more flight time. The whole challenge is finding the best trade-off between these conflicting requirements.
Comparing shapes and materials, calculating strength, checking the results against tests: a weight-versus-stiffness optimization approach, at the heart of designing any sports product.
Skills applied: Strength of materials, Weight / stiffness optimization, Material selection, Icam project.
Designing and building a radio-controlled boat from A to Z: 100% repairable, replaceable parts, controlled by phone or remote.
The specs were demanding: every component removable and replaceable, and two control modes, by phone or with a remote.
Many fields of engineering in a single object: buoyancy and hull shape, propulsion and rudder, onboard electronics and wireless control, and a modular design built for repair.
Skills applied: Modular design, Hydrodynamics, Embedded electronics, Fabrication, Icam project.
A shipping container converted into a lounge, with a kitchen and a sofa, for the school in Quito.
Turning a steel box into a living space: cutting the openings, letting the light in, insulating, and making a very tight volume pleasant to live in.
A project taken from design through to completion: layout plans, making every centimeter count, choosing locally available materials, building as a team, in Spanish.
Skills applied: Interior layout, Design, Construction, Teamwork, Spanish.
A bike that stays upright on its own thanks to a reaction wheel mounted in place of the saddle, and follows a marked course by itself.
The principle: a reaction wheel spins in place of the saddle. By speeding it up or slowing it down, the system creates a torque that keeps righting the bike, with no rider.
I was the project lead and did all the CAD work: organizing the team and the schedule, integrating the mechanics, sensors and control into a single prototype.
Skills applied: Project management, CAD, Dynamics & stability, Mechatronics, Icam project.
Designing and building a wooden bridge that holds out as long as possible under a hydraulic press. My team won.
Each team designs its wooden bridge, builds it, then puts it under a hydraulic press until it breaks: it all comes down to the truss architecture.
Spreading the loads across the members, choosing the right geometry, taking care over every joint: our bridge held out the longest. Proof, through testing to failure, that calculation and design make the difference.
Skills applied: Structural analysis, Trusses, Testing to failure, Fabrication, Icam project.
Designing an omega-profile carbon fiber wing: a digital twin in Patran/Nastran, a mold designed in SolidWorks, pressure molding, then testing on the press.
Step one: choose the wing’s shape, an omega profile, then build its digital twin in Patran/Nastran. Before anything is made, the finite element model predicts how the wing will bend and where the stresses concentrate.
Step two: make it. I designed the mold in 3D in SolidWorks; the carbon fiber fabric is laid up in it, then put under pressure to compact the plies. Finally the wing goes on the press, to observe its strength and bending and compare the test with the calculation. A first hands-on experience with composites, the materials used in skis, boards and foils.
Skills applied: Finite element analysis, Patran / Nastran, SolidWorks CAD, Composite materials, Mechanical testing, Icam project.
C · Explore: Field & travel
Where gear gets tested: altitude, self-sufficiency, far away.
The summit farthest from the center of the Earth, reached after a year of training on Ecuador’s mountains and volcanoes.
At 6,263 m, Chimborazo’s summit is the point on the Earth’s surface farthest from its center, thanks to the equatorial bulge. Before taking it on, I spent a year climbing the country’s mountains and volcanoes one after another.
Gradual acclimatization, an alpine start, glacier travel, managing effort and cold: the ideal place to understand what you really need from your gear.
Skills applied: High-altitude mountaineering, Physical conditioning, Risk management, Gear testing.
Two long-distance trails completed: the GR20 in Corsica and the GR738 in the Belledonne range. And it’s only the beginning.
Two personal projects: hiking the full length of two of France’s most demanding long-distance trails, the GR20 in Corsica and the GR738 in the Belledonne massif. Several days in the mountains, solo or with others: a unique experience.
Planning the route, carrying just what you need, managing water, weather and fatigue over time: self-sufficiency is learned by walking.
Skills applied: Self-sufficiency, Endurance, Planning & logistics, Navigation.
Kite, surf, ski, hiking: the playground where I test, break and understand gear.
Skiing, hiking, kitesurfing, surfing, climbing, wakeboarding: I’ve always done them, from the mountains to the ocean.
That’s what shapes my engineer’s eye: I know what you expect from a product when it’s cold, windy or you’re tired, and why one design detail can change everything.
Skills applied: Skiing, Kitesurfing, Surfing, Climbing, Hiking, Wakeboarding.
A year in Ecuador, six months in Colombia: Spanish every day and the Andes as a playground.
A year in Quito, Ecuador: a three-month internship at a sustainable timber construction company, then a nine-month university exchange as part of my engineering degree.
Then six months in Bogotá, Colombia: a research thesis on carbon release in the páramos, the high-altitude ecosystems of the Andes, with Icam and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Working, studying and doing research in another language and another culture.
Skills applied: Fluent Spanish, Sustainable timber construction, Scientific research, Adaptability.
Two months on the road, from the southeast up to Paris, then the whole northwest.
September and October 2026: Provence, the Verdon, the Southern Alps and the Vercors, then north to Paris, before looping through the whole northwest.
Two months paced by outdoor activities and the people I meet: the best test bench for gear, and for organization.
Skills applied: Organization, Self-sufficiency, Outdoor sports.
A month in Kyrgyzstan, self-supported, with a map, a satellite phone and a solar panel.
Leaving in November 2026 for a month, with a tent as my only roof and a solar panel to charge the camera and the satellite phone.
The real challenge is preparation: choosing, weighing and testing every piece of gear, planning for energy and safety, far from anywhere. It’s also where I’m filming the documentary “Pourquoi tu pars ?” (Why are you leaving?).
Skills applied: Self-sufficiency, Expedition planning, Portable solar power, Safety.
D · Tell stories: Image & narrative
Filming, editing, entrepreneurship.
Travel stories, filmed and edited: Colombia, the Amazon, Cuba, Mexico, Chimborazo.
I film and edit my travels and adventures: Colombia, the Amazon, Cuba, Mexico, Chimborazo. Short-form videos for Instagram, longer ones for YouTube (@axelnvr).
Writing, shooting, editing, finding the right pace: knowing how to tell a project’s story and make people want more, a valuable skill when presenting a product.
Skills applied: Filming, Video editing, Storytelling, Social media.
Aerial footage, from the mountains to the sea, from flying to editing.
I film mountains, coastlines and deserts from the sky, for my videos and travel stories.
Anticipating wind and terrain, planning flights, saving batteries in the cold: technique in the service of the image.
Skills applied: Drone piloting, Aerial filming, Editing.
A documentary shot in Kyrgyzstan about what we go looking for when we travel far away. Its title means “Why are you leaving?”
Shot during my month of self-supported travel in November 2026, it starts with a simple question: why do we go far away?
I’m handling it all, from writing to editing. A deliberate choice: an old digital compact with a CCD sensor, for a look from another era and a focus on emotions rather than 4K landscapes.
Skills applied: Directing, Writing, Solo filming, Editing.
Founding POSTABLE, a publisher of local-heritage illustrations for small French towns.
POSTABLE showcases the forgotten heritage of small towns of 800 to 3,500 inhabitants: illustrations offered to town halls and tourist offices, starting with the Gers and the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Positioning, an AI-assisted creative process, prospecting mayors directly, all the way to a van tour of France to meet them: entrepreneurship, from concept to client.
Skills applied: Entrepreneurship, Art direction, Business development, AI-assisted design.