Meet Modern Day Renaissance Man - Walter Reuss
When Walter, a rising sophomore in Electrical Engineering at Northeastern, came to our house last week to buy one of our curved leather belts, Scott and I simultaneously thought "Wow, he'd be a fabulous model" and Walt graciously agreed to work with us. Though we've known Walt since he was three years old, spending time with him now blew me away - such an incredible range of talents, interests, experiences.
And OK - so we were right. Great model. It's hard to catch the curve of the belt as when on the body, the curved belt looks like a belt should. I thought these 5 shots caught it perfectly.
From back - no gap
From front - slight rise over the hips
Angled front - you can see the bend in the belt more clearly
From side - even more clear the rise over hips
Straight on -
It seems to me that you never know what events in a person's life create a passion that plays out in the whole of their life. Walt's interest in cars was sparked by an uncommon early experience of completely restoring this 1968 MGB. At 14, Walt's uncle (who had restored old cars) helped Walt to find a classic sportscar that Walt could afford to buy with the money he had earned doing some construction work. The car was not running at all when Walt bought it. He started by replacing the battery and then ended up taking the entire car apart, including taking the engine and transmission out, cleaning and/or repainting every element, and putting the whole thing back together again.
At 19, Walt is incredibly well-traveled. His parents travel extensively so Walt comes by this naturally. His travels include Mexico, Equador, The Galapagos Islands, France, Germany, Luxemburg, the UK, Belgium, Holland, Croatia, Prague, Budapest, Itay. He did a study abroad program in Melbourne and spent 4 weeks backpacking through Europe with 3 other young men.
One of the most interesting aspects of Walt's experience at Northeastern is his participation in a club called the Society of Automotive Engineers. These clubs exist at universities all over the world. The Society of Automotive Engineers work on all forms of self-propelled vehicles including automobiles, trucks and buses, off-highway equipment, aircraft, aerospace vehicles, marine, rail, and transit systems. The clubs build and race vehicles that have only a 10 horsepower motor! The students build their cars from scratch - only the motor is provided. (For context a 10 horsepower motor is just slightly more powerful than a riding lawnmower.) Breakthroughs achieved are on par with the industry as a whole.
Walt's team builds and races Baja cars. These all-terrain vehicles go over sand, mud, rocks, snow. His team competes with other University teams - some of the most competitive being from Michigan (not surprising), Rochester, and Canada.
If you're wondering just what a Baha car looks like, here's what one looks like after competing in muddy terrain.
Aside from Walt's interest in automotive technology and travel, Walt plays tenor sax in the band The Fists of the Proletariat. "The Fists" have performed extensively around Boulder and surrounding Mountain towns.
Walt is quite the chef. Both of his parents are superior cooks so I was thinking he learned from them. But upon further discussion, I learned that he actually began cooking by watching YouTube videos.
So what belt did Walt choose? The Rivetti - shown below. His reason for selecting the Rivetti was that he sees many people his age accessorizing their belts ... hanging chains and the like off their belts. The Rivetti already has added texture (the single line of rivets) ... making it accessorized but also versatile.
I asked Walt what his ideal job would be. His response - sustainability in the automotive technology industry, or maybe sustainable transportation, a key issue being sustainability at the grid level. I'd say the world needs left-brain / right-brain creatives like Walt working on its most pressing problem. Elon Musk - you'd be lucky to get this guy on your team.
