Education
After graduating from high school in 2003, Hellen studied product design at the Academy of Art & Design Offenbach. From 2004 to 2005, she completed a one-year internship at the Design Factory of Luigi Colani in Karlsruhe. The main tasks were the mold making of automobiles, airplanes and sculptures. In 2005 she worked 4 months for BMW in Hamburg, building Formula 1 car models, for the intel Racing Tour 2006. She graduated in 2010 with a thesis on "The strategic design approach of modularity and its embedding in product design". From 2010 to 2011 within a postgraduate program, she worked on projects with BSH Siemens Group and Peter Schmidt Group and received a one-semester teaching assignment at Academy of Art & Design Offenbach. In 2011 she joined the Brand Strategy team at Peter-Schmidt Group (BBDO) Frankfurt for a 5 month internship.
Activity as a designer
In April 2012 she founded her own label and from then on started working for international brands on various design projects. Beginning with Amenity Kits for Lufthansa Sky Chefs (now Spiriant) in Frankfurt (2012). Following a year-long project with Festo in Stuttgart, to consult a redesign of their brand portal communication (2013). Designing wearable and lifestyle products for Philips and Apple with tech-agency Colorfy in Berlin (2014). Developing a product mailing for Volkswagen with Ogilvy & Mather in Frankfurt (2015). Launching her first table collection (2015) which was awarded as winner of Interior Innovation Award (2015), and in 2016 Nominee of Architektur & Wohnen Designtalent, Special Mention of German Design Award (2016), Nominee of German Design Award (2016) and distributed through Ikarus.
In 2015, she returned to Luigi Colani as his master student whose design factory was now in Changzhou, China. For 2 more years, she was involved in creative direction and brand performance, as well as a representative at international events mainly in China and Europe.
Furthermore she launched a car wheel collection (2017) and designed a Moncler Mercedes Benz G class show car concept for Carlsson (2017) in Milan. Later she designed interior products, packaging and exhibition concepts for Chalet Affair in Frankfurt that were exhibited at Harrods London and Maison & Objet Paris (2018).
After more than 10 years in the industry as a designer and design consultant for international clients, she founded her own company Hellen Westerhof Ltd. in 2021. Acting as a parent company, the firm focusses on developing and launching high-end product lines, along with establishing their respective brands. Hellen Westerhof serves not only as the founder but also as the creative director, creating products that honor tradition while embracing the present—luxury, sustainability, and timeless design are at the core of everything she does.
Hellen Westerhof was born in Frankfurt Main, Germany with Austrian and Dutch Nationality. Today she lives in Frankfurt Main and Luxembourg.
Entrepreneurship
In December 2023, BLONDBOX® was founded with a vision to bring timeless elegance and unparalleled quality to the luxury gifting market. Drawing inspiration from the classic French tradition of crafting hatboxes by hand with fine paper, Hellen Westerhof has revived this artisanal philosophy and combined it with modern, minimalist design. Based on the conviction that luxury gift boxes are not only more refined than traditional wrapping paper, but also far more sustainable, these boxes are designed to be treasured, reused, and repurposed, merging elegance with environmental consciousness.
While the primary audience may be women, BLONDBOX® offers a seamless solution for men as well, eliminating the hassle of gift wrapping and ensuring a flawless presentation every time.
Lecture Activity at Universities
Westerhof is currently lecturing at 3 Universities in Germany supporting around 80 students each year. Since 2016 in Biodesign and Design Optimization at University of Applied Sciences Saarbrücken, since 2019 in Sustainable Packaging Design and Product Design at University of Applied Sciences in Soest and since 2023 in Product Design in Media at University of Applied Sciences in Hagen. Previously she lectured at Academy of Art & Design Offenbach, Europa Campus in Karlsruhe and Design Academy in Hanau.
She enables her students to relate directly to the industry in numerous projects, for example through designs developed for companies, such as most recently the packaging project for Oberweis Luxembourg, or by participating in competitions such as the Biodesign Challenge in New York City (winning Villeroy & Boch and Festo as sponsors), or exhibitions such as at MoMA and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, or by giving lectures at trade fairs such as the Airtec fair in Munich.
Speaker Activity at Events
In addition to teaching assignments at universities, she specialises in lectures on the design theses and work on Luigi Colani and can be booked for lectures on request. Previous lectures were on 02 December 2023 in the Galerie Stihl Waiblingen on the Colani exhibition "Luigi Colani – Popstar des Designs". Next lecture will be expected to take place on February 9, 2025 in the museum Marta Herford on the Colani exhibition "Formen der Zukunft".
TV
In May 2022, she was featured in the second part of the two-part documentary “Luigi Colani” produced by journalists Sabine Carbon and Felix Oehler. The documentary is broadcast repeatedly on ARTE and ARD on TV and is temporarily available in their online media libraries.
Live Podcast
On September 9, 2024, Hellen Westerhof will be a guest on the live video podcast “Leute” on the radio station SWR1 Baden Württemberg. Journalist Jens Wolters will interview Hellen Westerhof live at the SWR Funkhaus in Stuttgart from 10:05 am to 12:00 pm. The live podcast will be filmed and recorded and will then be available on the SWR channels in Spotify and the ARD media library.
Awards
Interior Innovation Award (2015) – Winner
Architektur & Wohnen Designtalent (2016) – Nominee, Category Designer of the Year
German Design Award (2016) – Special Mention, Category Furniture