SUPERO

What is the story of your studio ? We started SUPERO around 8 years ago. Samuel and me graduated from the same Art School within we already worked together on different personal projects. We were also lucky enough to do various internships with renowned graphic designers from Paris and Berlin (Philippe Apeloig, Meta design, Blotto design). After school, Samuel won the Berlin Artist grant. We took advantage of it to elaborate different artistic projects. We then had the luck to win several graphic design contest, which quickly brought us work. We henceforth needed a workspace and a name. That’s how SUPERO is born. In conclusion, I would say that we never asked ourselves questions, we simply kept working together.

Your projects are sometimes linked to your city’s activity. Is this proximity a will ? Yes, we are very lucky to be able to work for various activities connected to our city. But it isn’t a will, since we are convinced that nowadays proximity isn’t a criterion anymore. Indeed, we travel a lot and collaborate with our foreign clients as if they were at our place. Proximity with our clients is really important to us, that’s why we make it possible, even abroad.

Swiss Style is a pioneer genre of graphic design, what is your impression about swiss graphic design nowadays ? The International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style, is a reference. It is part of the graphic design history with the birth of the typographical grid and the sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica. It is an art of simple, efficient composition and it is still relevant. It is a timeless style which we enjoy playing with. Indeed, the great difficulty of a graphic exercise isn’t to produce something fashionable, pretty and fun, but to succeed in creating a timeless visual. A work that could come out years later and would still be relevant. That is what the work of a graphic designer is about. I am still convinced that it is by playing with the limits of these established rules, by sometimes breaking this nicely set typographical grid that the visual becomes interesting. To put it short, I would say that swiss graphic design only asks to be turned upside down—> a little. The swiss graphic style reflects in fact the swiss lifestyle. Clean, straight, neat. But a Swiss likes to think outside the box and feel upset once in a while… ;-)

What are your concerns outside design ? In 2009, with friends, we created an association —ARTUNG!— (www.artung.ch) which aims to democratize contemporary art by taking it out of the museums and making it accessible to all. It is free, ephemeral and open to all events. One can discover exhibitions, performances and concerts of emerging contemporary artists in unexpected places in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 2015, in collaboration with QG (Contemporary Art Museum of La Chaux-de-Fonds), we set up the '100 Beste Plakate' exhibition in our city. We currently are preparing a graphic design related festival. But it is a concern that is not outside design… ;-) Interview conducted in January 2016 ©ktlg