Leo Obstbaum was born in Buenos Aires in 1969. In 1974 he transfers to Barcelona. He was interested, since he was young, in art, crafts and the visual art world. He wanted to find out what those images that he saw on T.V. were hiding: his curiosity was going to cost his parents three T.V. sets. In Barcelona Leo Obstbaum studied Integral Communication, specializing in Corporate Identity. In 1990 founds his own visual communication studio. Five years later he became partners with illustrator Alexis Rom. Together they will realize illustrations for mediums like La Vanguardia or Pais de las Tentaciones, and also catalogues of varied commercial companies. For the design of the Sarrió Papel calendar they won the silver prize in the International Competition of Calendar Design, held in Stutgart.
After this period, Leo Obstbaum decided to continue his path alone, and in 1997 opened his studio again, this time under the name of Elestudio. Thought of as a multidisciplinary design studio, Elestudio specialize in fashion, music, and film design. Leo Obstbaum’s professional restlessness and his dislike of monotony has taken him to explore different mediums such as print, broadcast, film, textile or web design. In every new project what he propose is to investigate around the medium, and at the same time, enjoy the process. Amongst so many jobs highlight the design of the graphics for the wardrobe for the multimedia opera “DQ, Don Quixote in Barcelona” by La Fura dels Baus, the identity for Adolfo Domínguez, the design of the graphics for the wardrobe for the anniversary of the

Barcelona Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games and the presentation of the Forum 2004. Likewise collaborated in multimedia installations for Michelin and Lacoste, among others. Work in film has been something Obstbaum has intended to do since the beginning. In this terrain he was introduced by the hand of Bigas Luna, designing the typography and collaborating with Mariona Omedes in the main title design of “Volavérunt”. This collaboration is followed by the image design for “Son de Mar” by Bigas Luna, “No Somos Nadie” by Jordi Mollà, the design of the image and the main title, post-production of “Fausto 5.0” by La Fura dels Baus and the main title design of “En Construcción” by José Luis Guerín, among others. At the same time, together with Miguel Marín, began to give form to a series of audiovisual proposals and multimedia installations. In June 2003 both presented a live set for the opening of the Sónar festival. In September 2004 presents a video installation during the 10th Circuit edition, about the concept of the passage of time. In June 2005 Beyond identity was presented at the Sónar festival during the exhibition Randonnée, a glance through 21st century landscape. In October 2005, Beyond Identity was shown in the Hôtel Ritz, Paris, during the exhibition Zone. In December 2005 Leo Obstbaum transfers to Vancouver, Canada. In March 2006 Beyond Identity was shown in the Lovebytes festival in Sheffield. Since May 2006 he is working with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as Design Director.