Leo Obstbaum

Leo Obstbaum was born in Buenos Aires, and grew up in Barcelona. In 1990, he founded his multidisciplinary design studio specializing in fashion, music, and film design. Highlight projects include wardrobe design for the multimedia opera Don Quixote in Barcelona (by theatre company La Fura dels Baus), the graphic identity for the film Son de Mar (by director Bigas Luna) and wardrobe design for the Barcelona Olympic Games 10 Year Anniversary. Together with Miguel Marín, they presented their personal video art project Beyond Identity at the Sónar Music Festival (Barcelona), in Paris and Lovebytes Festival in Sheffield (UK). Leo fell in love with Vancouver when he visited on his honeymoon, and he, his wife and daughter made the city their home in 2005. Leo joined Vancouver 2010 as Design Director in June 2006.

What inspires you about the mascot project? What is unique about it?
This project is exciting because of its many dimensions. It is exciting to know that the mascot will represent the Olympic and Paralympic Games and their values, and at the same time, Vancouver, Whistler and Canada. It's also unbelievable to think that the mascots' creator will see them everywhere, from pins to toys, from T-shirts to billboards, from ad campaigns to TV animation, and that millions of people around the world will talk about the mascot. It's a huge challenge, to convert an idea to a character that will be part of the Games' history.

What are your favourite Olympic or Paralympic mascots? How and why?
My favourites have been the most controversial and avant garde. I love Waldi (Munich 1972), which totally reflected that era of design, and was very simple. Amik (Montreal 1976), is the best representation of the beaver I've seen…I love it for its minimalism. It is still very contemporary, though it may not have enough personality for today's mascots. And Cobi (Barcelona 1992) was great because he was cheeky, avant garde, and triggered big differences of opinion in Barcelona, but in the end became one of the most popular mascots in history. I love Aster, the Torino 2006 Paralympic mascot, for the concept and how it related to the Olympic mascots.

What kinds of artists were you looking for to design the 2010 mascots?
It didn't matter if they were individual illustrators, graphic designers or large animation studios. I was interested in people that breathe what happens in the street, people who understand new trends in the world of toys, urban art, video games and animation, and who want to innovate. We were looking for people who are storytellers, who aren't afraid of risk, who love what they do and above all, who want to share their dreams with the world.

What does success in this project look like to you?
My dream is that we create a mascot that represents everyone, and captures the spirit of the athletes and sport as well as Canada's people and culture. My big dream is to see three generations of people wearing the same mascot T-shirt. This would mean to me that the Games really touched everyone…