“Style = Fart” —Sagmeister

Stefan Sagmeister was born in 1962 in Austria. He began studying graphic design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (earning him an MFA), and was taught under the direction of Paul Schwarz (a disciple of A.M. Cassandre). His love for design grew immensely, as he created posters that were plastered all over his city. In 1987, he arrived in New York City to attend Pratt Institute on a Fulbright scholarship where he obtained his Master’s degree.

Sagmeister returned to Austria to fulfill his obligatory military/community service as required by Austrian law. Of course, he quickly found himself doing design work for the city and freelance jobs at night.

At the age of 29, he attained a job with Leo Burnett, working at an ad agency in Hong Kong. He soon became an important figure in the agency, and got his first taste at the opportunity to choose which clients he would work with. He never intended to stay in Hong Kong, and shortly set his sights on New York. Consequently, he did a brief stint in Sri Lanka, which landed a job at M&Co. in New York City. And he was now the senior designer with the legendary Tibor Kalman. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until Kalman decided to close M&Co's doors — however it gave Sagmeister a new perspective and initiative to open his own studio, Sagmeister Inc.

In 1993, Sagmeister Inc. focused on commercial work for the music industry. Since then, they have designed graphics and packaging for clients such as Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Aerosmith, and Pat Metheny. Sagmeister's outstanding work for bands has received four Grammy nominations, and has won nearly all the international design awards available.

Presently his firm is going strong, and Sagmeister still does a lot of traveling, design lectures, and has become an advocate for change in the design world. His ultimate goal is: “To touch somebody’s heart with design.” We think he already has!