Peter Schmidt

In 1958, Peter Schmidt graduated from the Werkkunstschule in Kassel, and in 1967 he moved to Hamburg to become Creative Director for Verclas und Böltz. In 1972 he founded the Peter Schmidt Studios together with Waltraud Bethge, and managed it until he sold it to BBDO in 2006. In its early years the company focussed on packaging designs for consumer goods and cosmetics; in 1980, it began to design perfume bottles with great success. National and international design contracts followed, including for Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder and Apollinaris. Peter Schmidt began to accept more corporate design contracts, and designed the corporate branding for the Hamburg State Opera, the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the City of Hamburg, among others. The Peter Schmidt Studios were renamed the Peter Schmidt Group after its founder left.

Since 2007, Peter Schmidt has worked with a small team in Hamburg, and operated under his own name. Along with corporate and product designs he also designed books, magazines, rooms, stage sets and websites. Since 2008 he has collaborated with Marcel Zandée, and in 2014 he set up the agency THE STUDIOS.

Peter Schmidt has received numerous prizes and awards for his work, among them the Rolf Mares Theatre Prize in Hamburg, and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, along with the Bayreuth Medal in Silver, in recognition of his cultural and social engagement. In 2006 the Hamburg Senate awarded him the honorary title of ‘Professor’, and in 2019 he was honoured as ‘Hamburger of the Year’ for his life’s work, and received the title of ‘Personality of the Year’ at the German Design Awards.