About the artist:

Karl Gerstner was a Swiss designer, typographer, author, and artist.

Gerstner attended Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel. From 1944 to 1948, Gerstner apprenticed as a typographer for artist Fritz Bühler's studio, alongside graphic designer Armin Hofmann, in Basel, Switzerland.

His supervisor at Bühler's studio, Max Schmid, later went on to work at the Geigy chemical company. In 1949, Gerstner began freelancing for Geigy after Schmid recruited him.

In 1958, he and Markus Kutter formed Gerstner+Kutter advertising agency in Basel. In 1962, they partnered with Paul Gredinger, and Gerstner+Kutter became GGK (Gerstner, Gredinger + Kutter), a leading Swiss advertising agency.

In 2006 Gerstner donated his entire archive to the Swiss National Library in Bern, and the Karl Gerstner Archive sets out to document his design process from the earliest drafts to the final product.

Gerstner died in Basel University Hospital on 1 January 2017.