Mathias Hoffmann was born in 1954 in Ulm/Donau, Germany. His first exposure to colour and design was at the textiles studio of his mother, Gertrud Hoffmann, who was a well known German textile designer. After graduating from college, Mathias worked as a freelance artist in Munich until 1971 when he started to work for Rolf Benz.

In 1980, after ten years as product manager with Rolf Benz, he set up his own design studio with a team of designers. While specialising in product design, Mathias also worked in the fields of retail store and international fair booth design, new product development and architectural design. Since 1984 Mathias lives in Tübingen, Germany. He is married to textile designer Ulrike Sárvári and has four children.