White Elephant
White Elephant

Tobias Kestel was born in Germany in 1976. From 2001 to 2005 he studied Industrial Design at the University of Applied Sciences/FH Joanneum in Graz/Austria. In 2005 Tobias launched the White Elephant DesignLab. The work of Tobias Kestel has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2005/6. His work was also published in national and international press. He has won several awards including Braunprize Exhibition 2005, 3rd Prize for the Bombay Sapphire Glassdesign Competition in 2008 and 1st Prize for the CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements Call for Tender competition in 2009. (in cooperation with F. Puschmann).

Florian Puschmann was born in 1981 in Graz/Austria. He first studied architecture at the Technical University in Graz and additionally worked at a studio for architecture. In 2001 he began his Industrial Design studies at the University for Applied Sciences/FH Joanneum, graduating in 2006. He studied architecture one more year at Studio Zaha Hadid at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, quitting in 2007 to join the White Elephant DesignLab. His works and projects were nominated for the Adolf Loos Prize, the Austrian National Prize for Design, exhibited in Vienna, Zeche Zollverein (Essen), Design Flanders Gallery (Brussels) and were also published in national and international press. From 2008 to 2011 he has lectured on product design at the University of Applied Sciences/Campus 02 in Graz together with Tobias Kestel.