Designer Peter Schmidt is dead: he became famous with his bottles

The designer Peter Schmidt is dead. The multi-award-winning artist and advertising specialist died in the morning at the age of 87 after a long illness in a hospital in Hamburg, as his long-time life partner Tobias Strauch said of the German press agency. Schmidt became world famous with perfume bottles for Jil Sander and Hugo Boss.

His bottle “Pure Woman” (1980) was temporarily in the exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The style of the designer born in Bayreuth was characterized by unmistakable simplicity, objectivity and elegance. Again and again the Wahlhamburger also worked as a stage and costume designer at the theater, for example for Hamburg’s renowned ballet boss John Neumeier in performances such as “Death in Venice” (2003) and “Parzival” (2006).

Until two years ago, Schmidt worked as a designer and also created stage sets for the Hamburg Ernst Deutsch Theater, said Strauch. Last year he gave his private library in his hometown Bayreuth.

Schmidt was born on December 10, 1937 in Bayreuth in Bavaria. After studying at the Kassel Werkkunstschule in Hesse, the Franke moved to the north, where he founded Peter Schmidt Studios with Waltraut Bethge in 1972. He led the brand and design agency until he sold it to the US advertising concentrated BBDO in 2006.

Afterwards, Schmidt operated alone under his name with a small, young team. Schmidt was the bearer of the Federal Cross of Merit on the ribbon.

Schmidt’s work was characterized by special diversity. His “Form 2006” received several awards for Arzberg Porzellan. In 2007 he took over the design of the “Lamento” festival in the Nazi memorial. For the Evangelical Church Day, he designed a campaign in 2013 for the slogan “as much as you need”. The designer designed books, magazines and websites and designed the logo for the city of Hamburg and the Hamburg Ballet.