Meet the team

Our vision is to be a catalyst for Australian innovation, harnessing the power of digital technology to benefit makers, businesses and investors in manufacturing.

Jonathon Gregor & Christophe Barriere-Varju

Bring Australian products and ingenuity to market.

Facilitate Australian Maker and SME access to global manufacturing.

Attract and engage investors in Australian manufacturing.

Founders

Jonathon Gregor

For more than 20 years, Jonathon has established and led transformation and growth initiatives within global brands – developing strategies and new operating models that realise a step change in performance. He now brings this experience to digital ventures looking to operationalise for sustained growth.

Christophe Barriere-Varju

Christophe is best known for competing in the Dakar Rally – with his latest event immortalised in the film Dream Racer. As a supply chain professional and business entrepreneur he has saved clients over $1 billion advising in Procurement, Cost Management, Performance Management Frameworks and harnessing Online Presence/Digital Marketing.

Bjoern Toemmler

Bjoern is an adaptable and versatile risk professional applying leading edge practices, while challenging conventional risk management approaches to ensure investment processes, technology & data capabilities and operational activities maximise value while staying within agreed risk parameters.

About the brand

What is a fern spike?

Biological extinction events wipe out existing ecosystems, leaving the ground bare for new colonization. Spikes in fern populations demonstrate that with the right attributes, it is possible to thrive in periods of disruptive change.

Each preceding industrial revolution has proved to be an extinction event for dominant businesses while seeing explosive periods growth for those who embrace innovation.

We established fernspike3d to lean in to this opportunity with a view to having a positive impact on work, the environment and our community.

What is Industry 4.0?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology. Large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the internet of things (IoT) are integrated for increased automation, improved communication and self-monitoring, and production of smart machines that can analyze and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.

Why fernspike3d?

‘3D’ in our brand, while a nod to the three dimensional models so often encountered in our work, actually refers to the nexus that must be created to unlock opportunities in manufacturing:

‘Makers’, the innovators who give birth to new products and new product attributes;
‘Manufacturers’, the constellation of small to medium sized firms that emerge using advanced manufacturing; and
‘Investors’ the individuals, coalitions and institutions prepared to vest in the success of innovative new products and businesses.

‘Digital’ can feel complex. Following this theme, to keep things simple you’ll see us routinely working in ‘threes’.