About me

I'm Sebastian Förstel, a product designer based in Vienna. What interests me is what a product sets in motion across its whole life: how it is made, how it is used, and what is left of it in the end.

My foundation is a double one: the Matura and a carpenter's journeyman certificate, earned in parallel at an academic secondary school with an integrated apprenticeship. Solving problems by hand and caring about the details that make a result feel right — that was part of it from the start. For a while I worked in restoration, and that attention to the small things nobody notices but that carry the whole has stayed with me. Through my design and eco-design studies I learned to think a product across its entire path — from making to use to recovery.

Today I'm doing a master's in eco-design, working where design and assessment meet. On the design side I sketch, model in Rhino and Grasshopper, and build prototypes by hand, because some questions only answer themselves on the object. On the assessment side I use openLCA to check what a decision actually costs, and let the numbers steer the next design move.

I'm looking for work that needs both: a feel for form and the willingness to test your own assumptions. Preferably early in the process, while material, joinery and repairability are still open and one good decision can still change everything.

How I work

I work as a perfectionist and a problem-solver: I think a design through to the end, seek criticism early, and turn it into better solutions. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) makes the environmental impact visible — I find the hotspots and bring them down, with facts instead of claims.

Download CV (PDF)