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Our team combines youthful energy with extensive experience in business and backpack development. David, our founder, technical expert and manager, has overseen the development of numerous award-winning backpacks and brings a wealth of knowledge in design, engineering, production and operation. Michael, our co-founder, brings hands-on entrepreneurial experience and a strong background in business administration and finance.

David is the founder and driving force behind Nola. He is an industrial designer by education at Zurich University of the Arts, and a backpack developer by profession, curiosity and probably also by mild obsession. For more than a decade, he worked deep inside the world of technical outdoor equipment, especially backpacks: sketching, sewing prototypes, constructing patterns, choosing materials, testing fits, writing specifications, visiting suppliers across the globe and bringing products into bulk production in Asia and Ireland.

After so many years in the details, David has reached a level of backpack knowledge that only a small number of people worldwide can probably follow. Seams, foams, zippers, load transfer, mesh behaviour, repair logic, production tolerances: he cares about the small things because these are the things that decide whether a backpack becomes a trusted companion or just another product.

With Nola, he wanted to connect this technical depth with a broader strategic view. That is why he recently extended his original design background with the MAS in Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich, essentially an MBA-like management programme for people who prefer building real things over talking in polished buzzwords. This helped him look at backpacks not only as products, but as part of a whole system: supply chains, brand positioning, digital
infrastructure, retail, sustainability, customer trust and long-term company building.

At Nola, David is involved in nearly every part of the business cycle. Not because he thinks he is the best at everything, but because he wants to understand what he
is building, where the risks are, and how the whole company holds together. Product design, development, production, communication, logistics, marketing, customer feedback and the occasional emergency knot in a cord: he likes to know how to solve them.

There are, however, areas where knowing your limits is also good design. For finance and compliance, David teamed up with Michael, who brings exactly the clarity, structure and sharpness these topics deserve.

David’s focus for Nola is steady rather than loud: build honest gear, learn fast, work with good people, stay close to the mountains and create products that are used, repaired, trusted and maybe one day you can look at them and feal many good stories attached.

Michael Künzler is co-founder and minority shareholder of Nola. While David brings the product, design and outdoor obsession, Michael brings the financial, analytical and structural backbone that a young company needs if it wants to survive longer than its first enthusiastic idea.

His background is in business, banking and finance. At Nola, this makes him the calm counterweight to the creativity. Michael focuses on the topics where precision is not optional: finance, compliance, systems, processes and the
parts of the business that need clear numbers instead of nice feelings.

He is also closely involved in Nola’s digital and operational setup, especially where business logic, IT structure and financial clarity meet. In a small company, these topics are not background decoration. They decide whether orders, stock, cash flow and responsibilities are properly under control.

Michael did not enter Nola as the typical outdoor gear romantic. That is probably healthy. But through David, a few demanding mountain experiences and some honest exposure to Swiss outdoor life, he has become part of the Nola spirit in his own way: pragmatic, reliable, curious and not easily impressed by marketing noise.

For Nola, Michael is the person who helps make sure that enthusiasm becomes a functioning business. He brings structure where structure is needed, asks the uncomfortable questions before they become expensive, and keeps an eye on the foundation.