Christophe Szpajdel

Christophe Szpajdel (* 1970 in Belgium ) is a Belgian artist and graphic designer who specializes in drawing metal logos and band lettering. Szpajdel has designed over 7,000 logos for black and death metal bands from around the world, including the logos of bands like Emperor and Enthroned .

In addition to his work as a designer, Szpajdel is a trained forest engineer and works full-time as a customer advisor in retail. He lives and works in Exeter , Devon , UK .

Career

Szpajdel has been drawing since early childhood, initially influenced by Kiss , AC / DC or Black Sabbath . He later discovered Slayer , Venom , Bathory , Kreator , Destruction , Dark Angel , Darkness , Running Wild , Helloween , Celtic Frost , Motörhead , Possessed , Sepultura and many others. His fascination for calligraphy and iconography developed with the tracing of the band's lettering .

From 1987 he became increasingly interested in the underground scene and began to design logos for as yet unknown bands, such as Deadly Blessing , Blood Feast , Sadistic Intent , Morbid Angel , Nocturnus . In 1989, while studying biology in Leuven, he was commissioned to do a fanzine , and in 1990 he developed his first logo for a Finnish band called Disgrace.

In January 2010 the illustrated book Lord of the Logos - Designing the Metal Underground was published with an extract from his work.

style

Szapjdel describes himself as being influenced by Art Deco and the artists of the Vienna Secession . He calls his own further development of calligraphy "Depressiv Moderne", the result of a mixture of Art Deco, a gloomy atmosphere and the actual economic depression .

literature

• Lord of the Logos. Designing the metal underground . Die Gestalten Verlag , Berlin, 2010, 244 pp. ISBN 3-89955-282-2 .

Web links

• Christophe Szpajdel website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} TAZ: Lord of the squiggles
2. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Pichler: The dark lord of logos  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Vice Magazine  
3. ^ Roberto Martinelli: Szpajdel . ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Issue 7.