River City Six: Lawrence Owens

Meet Lawrence Owens, owner of Concentric Visual Design.

Tell us a little about your business.

Concentric Visual Design successfully helps startups and world-class manufacturers bring products and services to market. By offering multiple services, I help companies stay lean with research and development as well as sales and marketing. My core competencies are industrial/mechanical and graphic design with an extensive work background in manufacturing. I’m an expert plastic part designer. My degree is in visual communications and I majored in digital video in college. I use this range of skills to create brand-centric product designs, packaging, product explainer videos, tradeshow displays, retail pitch decks, websites, user interface design and “whatever else” is needed to launch and market a new or existing product or service.

How did you get started in the business?

Many things led me into design. My first memory of designing something was in grade school in my first art class where we made sculptures out of clay. About that time, I was also having my dad hacksaw my bikes and reweld them to be more cool. He is creative like I am; I always say the designer and engineer in me came from my dad and working with him in our family business when I was younger. I think I’ve truly always been a designer and problem solver at heart.

What has been your most important achievement professionally?

Through creative design I was able to help a medical device manufacturer invent a method to more efficiently distribute laser energy to patients at several different treatment areas of the body. This greatly reduced the number of laser modules needed and/or moving parts required to animate the energy for coverage. This invention has been designed into dozens of laser medical devices treating conditions such as chronic pain and toenail fungus.

Tell us a little about your family.

I’m happily married with two awesome stepchildren, two incredible grandsons, two pugs and a cat. Hmmm, seems like we need another cat to even things out. My oldest grandson inspired me to write a song that won an award in the Galaxy of Stars contest a few years ago. He’s musically inclined like grandpa. The newest addition to the family is my second grandson, who was literally just born on January 23rd.

What is the most unique or interesting thing about you that most people probably don’t know?

As I get older, I become increasingly excited to mow the lawn. Over the past few years I’ve been experimenting with three-dimensional creative lawn mowing. If you drive by my house in the summer you’re sure to notice a spiffy pattern of grass at different heights. I keep the front pretty tame but do some experimenting in the back. I’ve amassed dozens of patterns, some of which come to find out make birds think my yard is water. It’s funny to watch their confusion. Someday I would actually like to start a creative mowing business and let the kids run it. It would be really neat for parties and open houses.

What are you the most proud of?

My family.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

If you could choose only one descriptive word to be remembered as, what would it be?

Loyal.

If our readers would like to contact you, how should they do so?

Phone: (402) 261-6779; Email: lowens@concentricvisual.com; Website: www.concentricvisual.com.