Thomas Michel was born in Darmstadt in 1966, and he lives and works in Bamberg. From 1988 to 1993, he completed a degree at the FH Munich in Industrial Design, graduating with a diploma. Parallel to this, driven by artistic conviction, he pursued a self-taught study of painting during a time when painting was declared dead. His artistic focus lies in the realms of painting and graphics, but he also engages with digital art and sculpture.

As a designer, Thomas Michel has worked for various international brands, including BMW and Puma. Since 2005, he has been employed by adidas as a Footwear Designer in both the performance and lifestyle sectors. In 2021, Alexander Zverev won the gold medal in the Olympic tennis tournament wearing shoes designed by Thomas Michel. In 2023, Siya Kolisi, captain of the South African rugby national team, became world champion in Michel’s shoes. One of Thomas Michel’s creations had a big moment in Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster ‘Barbie,’ where Ryan Gosling, portraying Ken, was equipped with his distinctive white boxing shoes.

In times of great cultural upheaval, where the boundaries between visual arts, design, fashion, and the metaverse blur, Thomas Michel’s versatile, technically sound education proves advantageous. Since 1991, he has participated in solo exhibitions and group projects both domestically and internationally, including in Italy, France, and Cuba, as well as art fairs in Berlin, Cologne, or Frankfurt.