Axel Meise

Axel Meise (born November 13, 1962) is a German entrepreneur and designer. Meise is the founder and chief designer of Occhio, a lighting and design company based in Germany.

Personal life Meise was born in Düsseldorf, and started studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Munich in 1982. During these studies, Meise sold a light fixture which he had designed. In 1987, Meise presented a low-voltage system of his own design at a trade fair. He received several awards for his designs, including the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Product Design Award.

Career In 1990, Meise founded Axel Meise Licht GmbH. He acquired a light gallery in Munich's Haidhausen and began producing his own lamp designs. A year later, Meise decided to sell the company. The following year, Meise established Occhio GmbH in Munich Subsequently, he founded Axelmeiselicht in 2000 as the distributor of Occhio products. Meise established his own electronics department.

In 2014, Meise presented a version of the Sento series with LED, which had infinitely variable light control. In 2017 the investment company EMH Partners became a partner of Meise, acquiring a 44 percent share in Occhio. In 2020, Benno Zerlin was appointed as the new co-CEO of Occhio, focusing on operational tasks within the company while Meise concentrated on design and strategy.