About Hobelsberger Studios

Hobelsberger Studios is a plural name, encompassing the various workshops and collaborations that shape my mode of expression.

I grew up on a beautiful old farm in a village called Freyung in the Bavarian Forest, close to Austria and the Bohemian Forest – a rural environment strongly related to the mysticism of nature and with a long history of traditional craftsmanship and glassworks.

At an early age, I started to discover our workshop, setting my first welding point at five years old – under supervision, of course.

The farm in Freyung, Bavarian Forest

While studying mechanical engineering, I dove deeper into various kinds of metalworking techniques. As admiration for poetry and a sense for aesthetics were also instilled in me at an early age, I switched to study architecture. There I found the perfect combination of arts and crafts. My final projects and my thesis were done at the Institute of Fine Arts within the architectural faculty, under Professor Ebehard Eckele of Leibnitz University Hannover. My focus was on kinetic light installations and light sculptures concerned with true colours.

After an intense and wonderful year in New York, where I was also able to realise my light-works, I came to Berlin. It was an exciting time, when East and West where still quite different, and there was so much freedom and space.

I had the great opportunity to work for Christian Schneider-Moll (www.lichtbau.de) and was allowed to use his first-class workshop for my own work. Being a kind of maker – before the expression was common – I immersed myself in CNC-production for about five years and did a lot of research into form and lighting techniques. At that time, I also set up my own studio and gallery space in Prenzlauer Berg.

Studio and gallery space in Prenzlauer Berg, until 2005

Some years later, because of my skill with rapid prototyping in combination with a good sense for aesthetics, I got the opportunity to work for Zumtobel Lighting. There I gained a lot of experience within a great team of various specialists and the opportunity to work with brilliant creatives internationally.

Prototyping for HARPA, Reykjavik Concert Hall, on behalf of Zumtobel Lighting GmbH for Olafur Eliasson

After ten years I had to move on to focus on my own work again, but I still greatly value collaborating with sharp thinkers and creatives.

So here we are at Hobelsberger Studios.