Stefan Sagmeister


Born in Austria in 1962, Stefan Sagmeister was originally on a path to become an engineer. After shifting his course in life towards design he studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna andd was accepted at the Pratt Institute in New York on a Fullbright Scholarship after that. He first started working professionally in the field for Leo Burnett, in their Hong Kong office in 1991. After a short stint there he began working with Tibor Kalman at his studio M&Co. It wasn't long after that that Tibor announced he was closing the doors on M&Co, in 1993, and Sagmeister formed Sagmeister, Inc. He has been there ever since.

His studio is very small in size and he works only with clients that appeal to him. He astonished the design community in 2000 when he closed the doors on his studio and took a year off for personal reflection. When he came back he published his first book, Made You Look. Thoroughly convinced that the reflection process was important in his continued creativity he has toured the design circuit giving many lectures and presentations about his personal success. He continues to operate his studio where he works for clients from a wide range of industries including fashion and music.