Adrian Frutiger – Traces

Charles Peignot had the idea of setting up a typographic studio in association with his son Rémy. This gave me the opportunity to employ André Gürtler and Bruno Pfäffli of Deberny & Peignot. Charles Peignot had many business connections and there was no shortage of work for us.

However, the plan soon proved to be unrealistic. In such a large company, the hourly rate with all the extras made our design work much too expensive. Peignot also realized that I also wanted to do applied typographical work in addition to my work at the foundry. He gave me his consent to the establishment of a studio of my own. In the small courtyard of the Imprimerie Hofer in the Place d’Italie there was a shed, which we converted at weekends with the help of some hand-workers from Deberny & Peignot. The firm also sold us some metal type and a hand-press at bargain prices. This was the origin of our first studio, where we carried out independent work and typeface design.