No cheating in his piano

He has lived in France, sailed across the Pacific Ocean and traveled alone in New Zealand. Now fate has brought Lars Leopold Weingarten to Luleå and the desire for adventure gets a new outlet in the job at Optimation.
– People often talk about adventure as exciting and positive, and working as boring. But I think it’s pretty cool to work, he says.

He was born in Stockholm but the move to Luleå actually went from France. Lars Leopold had an
interest going north and ended up via courses in process engineering at Luleå University of Technology. It was not his first experience of Norrbotten but a previous visit to Luleå did not make a good impression on him.
– During my studies in Uppsala, I went to a student conference in Luleå. We were out on the hook one evening and my experience was that people on the dance floor were big and had very sharp elbows, he laughs.

But the sharp elbows are in sharp contrast to Lars Leopold’s perception of Luleå residents now.
Among the colleagues at Optimation, it is high ceilings and cordial.
– It is a very convivial atmosphere here. People are open and helpful. When I had found one
piano that was given away, my colleague came straight with his trailer and helped me pick it up. People sets up simply.

The piano is now in Lars Leopold’s apartment on Skurholmen and he plays as soon as he has a moment over, which may not be as often as he would have liked.
– Playing goes in periods and depends on how much time I have, how much else I do. Then  I sit
and create what feels. Sometimes it sounds better and sometimes it sounds worse, he smiles.

Activity and accuracy
To say that Lars Leopold is an active person is something of an understatement. Since the move to Luleå has he started with both crossfit and yoga.
– I think it is very grateful to move the body and train in some form every day. It is
a pretty big strain on the body to sit still in front of the screen for a whole day. An hour later
the day is not so much in the big picture, he says.

He has been doing yoga for almost two years and he has noticed how the slow movements
provides a calm and a better body control.
– It is important to have balance in everything when you get into the positions. If you become hypermobile in to a certain extent, it may be that you compensate. I started with pretty advanced yoga though noticed that I was less flexible than I thought in the lumbar spine. That’s why I went back and do things properly, he explains.

This is exactly the way of thinking that Lars Leopold also takes with him in his work role. Right now he’s working on one simulator where a detection of a fault means that you have to go back a few steps.
– I actually think it’s pretty cool to discover something that I have completely missed even though
that means I have to start over. It spurs me on, he explains.

At Optimation, Lars Leopold is responsible for an optimisation tool that industries can use
to maximize production and minimize emissions as well as maintenance, which leads to large
savings.
– In industry, it can be the case that you pay several million for a plant but invest
less time and money to tune it. It’s like buying a very expensive piano but do not think that it sounds a little strange when you play. You do not want an untuned piano but you miss that the industry plays fake.

Adventures in the big and small
The great adventures such as hiking alone and sailing across seas may have been left behind in favor to live in a place, but Lars Leopold still finds adventure in the small things. Like walking on
bug night without having a clue how to bug.
– I got a person to show me how to do it. Meeting something new does not have to be scary.
I think most people are helpful if you are open and honest about why you are there. Only man
tells that you can not, without pretending to be something else, the rest usually resolves itself, he smiles.

But of course there is still room for medium-sized adventures in his life. At the time of it
In this interview, Lars Leopold is getting ready for a real Norrbotten holiday, with one
international twist.
– A friend from France is on his way up to Norrbotten with his 20 sled dogs. We’ll meet in
Arjeplog and dog sledding all weekend