Per Ivar Selvaag was born in South Korea, but raised on a farm on the west coast of Norway. He studied industrial design in England, subsequently working in product development for Ford Motor Company, BMW, and as chief designer for Automobiles Peugeot in France. In 2013, Per established design consultancy Montaag LLC in Berkeley, with two additional offices in Stavanger and Oslo, Norway. Montaag specializes in research-based design projects for a variety of clients, with a bias towards mobility-related design thinking to inform a host of solutions, from policy to product development.