“I’ve seen virtual and mixed reality evolve every decade. But now, they're really taking off.”

“When it comes to computer graphics, I’m pretty much self-taught.

In the late 80s, simple wireframe rendering seemed like a cool thing to pursue on my home computer. In the 90s and early 2000s, I studied software systems and signal processing at the Tampere University of Technology.

The first 22 years of my career were with Nokia where I predominantly focused on 3D graphics. The capability of 3D on mobile phones back then was a niche. I am one of the authors of the Mobile 3D Graphics book – all of us writers were a small circle of enthusiasts and we wanted the potential of 3D to reach the general mass.

My first experience with VR/XR was when I was working on my Master’s thesis. For that, I made a simple augmented reality application. I was using off-the-shelf components and I had a small industrial PC strapped to my waist. I took a 3D map of the local university campus, did some points of interest, and did the visualization of them embedded in the real-world campus.

That was pretty dope – it looked like magic.

I’ve seen virtual and mixed reality as technology trends evolve every decade with different iterations. But now it’s really taking off – the technology gets smaller and becomes more powerful. It starts to be more self-contained. Something you could really wear.

At Varjo, I’m working on teleportation. Teleportation is so cool, a science fiction dream for a long time.

I recently found that the earliest mention of teleportation was from approximately 1877. There’s a short story where an unfortunate scientist tries to teleport himself. Unfortunately, the teleportation device runs out of power shortly after transmitting only his head.

Traditionally, science fiction has approached teleportation in a manner where you break a human into atoms and then rebuild the person. At Varjo, we’re doing the same, except the other way around. So instead of transporting you to a different location, we are transporting that location to you. You experience the other area instantly via the most accurate imagery. This enables people to be in a different place without physically traveling there, avoiding any safety or physical constraints.

We have a world-class team at Varjo and many of my colleagues are industry veterans. That being said, while everyone is super professional they are also really relaxed and approachable.

Many people say to me that what you’re working on looks like magic. It’s nice to be working on the magic again.”