Michael Oechsle

Looking back, I feel extremely lucky to have ended up on the other side of the planet at Art Lebedev Studio for my design internship. The “unsocial” hours took some getting used to, but once into the swing of things, I have had the opportunity to work on (and observe) so many really diverse and interesting projects. I can’t imagine many places in the world where young designers are given the freedom and encouragement to take an idea all the way from a rough sketch through to a full production ready product in the space of a few months—something I definitely did not take for granted!

As well as everyone else at the studio, I have to especially thank Timur—a great mentor and friend to all of us here in prom design. Going out of his way to run late night design lectures, taking us on excursions to design related gigs around town and showing us endless “educational” youtube clips, Timur makes sure that your time here is a real learning experience and that (at least in my case) you leave a far more well-rounded designer than when you arrived.

Yes the studio is an insanely cool place to work, but the criticism comes hard and fast, and quite often whole days of work can be scrapped at once glance from Tema. Developing a thick skin and swallowing one’s ego are all valuable lessons learned, and I can’t say I would have had it any other way except for maybe being able to stay here a little longer!

Ciao