Our latest & final speaker announcement -BRIAN STEINHOBEL
BRIAN STEINHOBEL
Brian Steinhobel was born in Johannesburg on 6th January 1960.
He was drawn to Art at a very early age and started creating in many diverse ways as a young boy.
Cutting the legs off the dining chairs at home to place as the seat into a wooden Box Kart was one of the first occurrences of Brian being in a spot of trouble for thinking “differently” and “out of the box”.
At the age of 8 Brian unwittingly created his first piece of proper Industrial Design by scribbling the shape of a chair on the side of a large block of foam obtained from a factory near to his home. He then cut a curvilinear chair out of it with a bread knife and used this chair until the end of his schooling.
Brian spent his 12-years of schooling at King Edward VII Preparatory and High school in Houghton Johannesburg.
Here he completed Matric with distinction in Art also having won the top Art Award in the school for three consecutive years.
At school Brian developed a deep affinity to Art encouraged by his teacher Mr. Edwin Harrison, who profoundly influenced his appreciation of Art and History of Art and Architecture.The teachings of Mr. Harrison who Brian recollects with much fondness and respect was how Brian learned to channel the inspiration Art had to offer into his own development.
Brian excelled in athletics and swimming with records in high jump and breaststroke which lasted many years after his departure. A highlight of his school days was achieving South African school colours for rowing, a sport he continued through his military career and tertiary education.
His creative path was somewhat interrupted with four years compulsory military conscription, spread over 10 years of military service in the under water Seal Team SCUBA unit of the South African Navy, specializing in attack diving and underwater demolitions. During this period as a naval Lieutenant Officer he spent thirteen months at sea aboard a frigate in charge of diving operations during the Angolan conflict and served five years as Commanding Officer of the diving unit at SAS Rand. He instructed the renowned Rhodesian Special Air Service SAS during his service.
One of the more humorous creative moments in the military was when Brian was locked up for an afternoon and underwent questioning for sketching military submarines moored in Simonstown harbour.
During his youth, Brian seriously considered Architecture as a career, a subject he still loves, but eventually discovered that Industrial Design was actually a profession available albeit very unknown in South Africa at the time. This was like discovering the true answer to life for Brian and after the military he immersed himself into Industrial Design studies with great passion, which is still a hallmark of Brian’s dedication to design.
Brian graduated in Design at Witwatersrand Technikon Department of Art and Design in 1982.
He was then accepted into the Royal College of Art in London to do postgraduate studies, but due to the South African politics at the time, he had to forego a bursary from Ford Europe, which was the first of a few political blocks experienced in his career based on being a South African under global sanctions.
During his studies he obtained a bursary from Rhodes Harrison, Fee and Bold (RFB) after the Company bought a first year sculpture Brain had created, “Surfer’s Dream Cathedral” coined by the press at the time. The vacation work at RFB enabled Brian to pioneer the world of computers in design on a “Main Frame” system totally foreign to design at the time. This gave a head start into Computer Aided Design (CAD), which was entirely novel then and enabled Brian to execute a Dummy Design for NUK dummies in Germany in collaboration with a Professor Gauron, which was a world first at the time.
Soon after qualifying Brian was offered commissions in Hong Kong and Japan which he pursued and soon created a liaison office in Hong Kong doing wrist watch and sun glasses designs amongst other products, including sewing machines and sports equipment.
A few years were also spent commuting between Taiwan and Singapore and the USA , where exercise home gym equipment became a feature subject.
During this period Brian spent time in Taiwan with renowned automotive designer, Georgetto Giorggiaro and was offered a position at Ital design in Italy. Although very enticing, he decided to pass up on this opportunity to concentrate on developing Steinhobel Design independently.
After establishing an office in South Africa during his studies, which commenced in 1980 and having worked on numerous commissions in many countries around the world, Brian has continued to work in a multitude of industries, applying a wide range of materials and technologies to hundreds of designs which have been carried out. These range from automotive, aerospace, medical, mining, electronic, consumer goods and sports equipment to name but a few.
Through the years commuting globally has become a lifestyle for Brian between Continents, Countries and Cities with umpteen global circumnavigations by air and a record of 26 countries in 13 months amongst a multitude of international trips.
Many Companies in South Africa and abroad have become regular clients of Steinhobel Design and gratefully many global friendships have evolved which constitutes an international network quite unique and much valued by Brian through a diverse spectrum of society from “excellent humble” people to “Superstars and Royalty” (actually a few Gangsters along the way as well).
This feature of Brian’s career has been nurtured by an entrepreneurial spirit and resulted in many projects been based on new inventions with approximately 30% of Steinhobel Design’s output working with inventors.
Brian is personally cited as co-inventor on a few hundred patents and Design Patents as often inventive steps are required during the design process to fully resolve a product’s development.
Brian also fosters the international norm of having fee and royalty derived remuneration for design. He holds equity in numerous companies as a shareholder or director of design and technology and has partnered with many inventors and businessmen.
In more recent years Brian has established a base in Munich Germany serving clients in Germany, Italy, Austria and most of Europe. Brian Steinhobel GMBH Austria is the business base and brand that is currently rolling out into Europe and the world.
At present Brian is also setting up bases in Switzerland and Scandinavia.
These bases will be fulcrum points of further expanding the Brian Steinhobel brand of products and design consultancy services internationally.
Brian has judged and continues to judge a number of design competitions in South Africa and around the world including the Australian Design Awards, the British D&AD Awards, the German Braun Design Prize, the South African Bureau of Standards Design Awards, the PG Bison Awards, the CN furniture Awards and various tertiary education and school Awards.
Public speaking engagements and television appearances are a regular item on Brian’s agenda including various programmes on CNBC and SABC
One of the more humorous creative moments in the military was when Brian was locked up for an afternoon and underwent questioning for sketching military submarines moored in Simonstown harbour.
During his youth, Brian seriously considered Architecture as a career, a subject he still loves, but eventually discovered that Industrial Design was actually a profession available albeit very unknown in South Africa at the time. This was like discovering the true answer to life for Brian and after the military he immersed himself into Industrial Design studies with great passion, which is still a hallmark of Brian’s dedication to design.
Brian graduated in Design at Witwatersrand Technikon Department of Art and Design in 1982.
He was then accepted into the Royal College of Art in London to do postgraduate studies, but due to the South African politics at the time, he had to forego a bursary from Ford Europe, which was the first of a few political blocks experienced in his career based on being a South African under global sanctions.
During his studies he obtained a bursary from Rhodes Harrison, Fee and Bold (RFB) after the Company bought a first year sculpture Brain had created, “Surfer’s Dream Cathedral” coined by the press at the time. The vacation work at RFB enabled Brian to pioneer the world of computers in design on a “Main Frame” system totally foreign to design at the time. This gave a head start into Computer Aided Design (CAD), which was entirely novel then and enabled Brian to execute a Dummy Design for NUK dummies in Germany in collaboration with a Professor Gauron, which was a world first at the time.
Soon after qualifying Brian was offered commissions in Hong Kong and Japan which he pursued and soon created a liaison office in Hong Kong doing wrist watch and sun glasses designs amongst other products, including sewing machines and sports equipment.
A few years were also spent commuting between Taiwan and Singapore and the USA , where exercise home gym equipment became a feature subject.
During this period Brian spent time in Taiwan with renowned automotive designer, Georgetto Giorggiaro and was offered a position at Ital design in Italy. Although very enticing, he decided to pass up on this opportunity to concentrate on developing Steinhobel Design independently.
After establishing an office in South Africa during his studies, which commenced in 1980 and having worked on numerous commissions in many countries around the world, Brian has continued to work in a multitude of industries, applying a wide range of materials and technologies to hundreds of designs which have been carried out. These range from automotive, aerospace, medical, mining, electronic, consumer goods and sports equipment to name but a few.
Through the years commuting globally has become a lifestyle for Brian between Continents, Countries and Cities with umpteen global circumnavigations by air and a record of 26 countries in 13 months amongst a multitude of international trips.
Many Companies in South Africa and abroad have become regular clients of Steinhobel Design and gratefully many global friendships have evolved which constitutes an international network quite unique and much valued by Brian through a diverse spectrum of society from “excellent humble” people to “Superstars and Royalty” (actually a few Gangsters along the way as well).
This feature of Brian’s career has been nurtured by an entrepreneurial spirit and resulted in many projects been based on new inventions with approximately 30% of Steinhobel Design’s output working with inventors.
Brian is personally cited as co-inventor on a few hundred patents and Design Patents as often inventive steps are required during the design process to fully resolve a product’s development.
Brian also fosters the international norm of having fee and royalty derived remuneration for design. He holds equity in numerous companies as a shareholder or director of design and technology and has partnered with many inventors and businessmen.
In more recent years Brian has established a base in Munich Germany serving clients in Germany, Italy, Austria and most of Europe. Brian Steinhobel GMBH Austria is the business base and brand that is currently rolling out into Europe and the world.
At present Brian is also setting up bases in Switzerland and Scandinavia.
These bases will be fulcrum points of further expanding the Brian Steinhobel brand of products and design consultancy services internationally.
Brian has judged and continues to judge a number of design competitions in South Africa and around the world including the Australian Design Awards, the British D&AD Awards, the German Braun Design Prize, the South African Bureau of Standards Design Awards, the PG Bison Awards, the CN furniture Awards and various tertiary education and school Awards.
Public speaking engagements and television appearances are a regular item on Brian’s agenda including various programmes on CNBC and SABC
A life and work documentary made by SABC titled “Africa Rising” was produced and screened a number of times together with the life of Gabriel Heili Selassi about the impact on Africa by these two African born people.
Brian continues to design intensively, while also evolving numerous projects and companies internationally, forging a network of extreme creativity and furthering his passion and talents in design. Raising investment capital through Angel funding, Venture Capital and Private Equity funds is a constant endeavour with huge success in this field in the past and a broad crop of impending products and projects in process.
Brian has also started the planning and pursuit of establishing a Museum of Contemporary Design and Art in Cape Town South Africa. This is a multi-billion Rand project with the intent of boosting Africa into the future in this field and raising the awareness of Design and its potential to dramatically grow the economy in the region.
The future holds many exciting prospects for Brian Steinhobel and Steinhobel Design.
A large repertoire of products and projects are being rolled out globally and three decades of intense work is culminating in the Brian Steinhobel brand being more prominent with products based on a massive heritage of technical ability and design understanding using the most sophisticated manufacturing processes, materials and an absolute dedication to the pursuit of excellence.
Steinhobel Design as a consultancy continues to be one of the pre-eminent product development centres in the world and consistently delivers a level of design solution extraordinarily ahead of the curve with hyper-creativity as a core value.
The Industrial Design and Product development syndrome is a multifaceted highly stimulating world, which is reflected in the personal life of Brian Steinhobel.
Design at this level requires a “beyond normal” understanding of the world, as we know it and humanity that occupies it.
The subtle nuances of high design, driven by cutting edge technology, sub-conscious and conscious psychologies, ergonomics, anthropometrics, computer aided design (CAD), manufacturing technologies, marketing strategies, legal intellectual property and contractual issues, business and entrepreneurial skills and a plethora of dynamic symbiotic influences must all be orchestrated and culminate in products that will impact for the betterment of civilization.
With the above in mind, Brian has consciously explored various aspects of life and immersed himself with a vast diversification of experiences in a personal endeavour to obtain insight and exposure to the extreme, which can then be drawn upon and embraced during the creative process.
These experiences are many in most phases exhilarating and risqué to say the least, often challenging the mediocre “status quo” of life.
Initially in his younger years various sports set this trend in his life from the likes of water skiing, skateboarding, surfing, figure skating, skin & scuba diving, skeet & combat shooting to a more dedicated era of rowing and martial arts, specifically, Tae Kwon Do, where Brian was awarded the first double belt grading in South Africa by the Korean founder of Tae Kwon Do, General Choi Hong Hi. Many forms of motor sport and a passion for car and bike racing have always fuelled the automotive slant in his work, specifically, Porsche, Ferrari Club and Karting track meets. The Ashes of Brian’s late brother Gavin were dropped by air over Kyalami, Grand Prix track in South Africa.
In March 2010 this motor sport passion almost met with disaster when Brian crashed out on a motor cross bike shattering his right clavicle bone resulting in some “high tech” Titanium reconstruction and a total of five operations.
As a result, Superbikes and Motocross are temporarily on hold and Karting with a “lower centre of gravity” has become the current focus.
The sports inspired exposure continues with snowboarding and skiing, being accessible with the more recent thrust of Steinhobel into Europe and the establishment of the Austrian office.
These “exposures” into life are certainly not limited to sport and the Arts are extremely important to a rounded foundation of a designer’s knowledge palette.
A year’s sabbatical exploring the large majority of the Worlds Art Museums and architectural landmarks was one expedition very much integrated into Brian’s philosophy of honing artistic sensitivities, which must be blade sharp if purity of design solutions is to be achieved based on trusting your instincts as a designer.
Brian continues to design intensively, while also evolving numerous projects and companies internationally, forging a network of extreme creativity and furthering his passion and talents in design. Raising investment capital through Angel funding, Venture Capital and Private Equity funds is a constant endeavour with huge success in this field in the past and a broad crop of impending products and projects in process.
Brian has also started the planning and pursuit of establishing a Museum of Contemporary Design and Art in Cape Town South Africa. This is a multi-billion Rand project with the intent of boosting Africa into the future in this field and raising the awareness of Design and its potential to dramatically grow the economy in the region.
The future holds many exciting prospects for Brian Steinhobel and Steinhobel Design.
A large repertoire of products and projects are being rolled out globally and three decades of intense work is culminating in the Brian Steinhobel brand being more prominent with products based on a massive heritage of technical ability and design understanding using the most sophisticated manufacturing processes, materials and an absolute dedication to the pursuit of excellence.
Steinhobel Design as a consultancy continues to be one of the pre-eminent product development centres in the world and consistently delivers a level of design solution extraordinarily ahead of the curve with hyper-creativity as a core value.
The Industrial Design and Product development syndrome is a multifaceted highly stimulating world, which is reflected in the personal life of Brian Steinhobel.
Design at this level requires a “beyond normal” understanding of the world, as we know it and humanity that occupies it.
The subtle nuances of high design, driven by cutting edge technology, sub-conscious and conscious psychologies, ergonomics, anthropometrics, computer aided design (CAD), manufacturing technologies, marketing strategies, legal intellectual property and contractual issues, business and entrepreneurial skills and a plethora of dynamic symbiotic influences must all be orchestrated and culminate in products that will impact for the betterment of civilization.
With the above in mind, Brian has consciously explored various aspects of life and immersed himself with a vast diversification of experiences in a personal endeavour to obtain insight and exposure to the extreme, which can then be drawn upon and embraced during the creative process.
Initially in his younger years various sports set this trend in his life from the likes of water skiing, skateboarding, surfing, figure skating, skin & scuba diving, skeet & combat shooting to a more dedicated era of rowing and martial arts, specifically, Tae Kwon Do, where Brian was awarded the first double belt grading in South Africa by the Korean founder of Tae Kwon Do, General Choi Hong Hi. Many forms of motor sport and a passion for car and bike racing have always fuelled the automotive slant in his work, specifically, Porsche, Ferrari Club and Karting track meets. The Ashes of Brian’s late brother Gavin were dropped by air over Kyalami, Grand Prix track in South Africa.
In March 2010 this motor sport passion almost met with disaster when Brian crashed out on a motor cross bike shattering his right clavicle bone resulting in some “high tech” Titanium reconstruction and a total of five operations.
As a result, Superbikes and Motocross are temporarily on hold and Karting with a “lower centre of gravity” has become the current focus.
The sports inspired exposure continues with snowboarding and skiing, being accessible with the more recent thrust of Steinhobel into Europe and the establishment of the Austrian office.
These “exposures” into life are certainly not limited to sport and the Arts are extremely important to a rounded foundation of a designer’s knowledge palette.
A year’s sabbatical exploring the large majority of the Worlds Art Museums and architectural landmarks was one expedition very much integrated into Brian’s philosophy of honing artistic sensitivities, which must be blade sharp if purity of design solutions is to be achieved based on trusting your instincts as a designer.
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