Gérard Ifert - A Design Antihero

Gérard Ifert was a Swiss designer whose discreet yet remarkable career spanned graphic design, scenography, furniture design, and photography. 

Trained at the School of Arts and Crafts in Basel in the late 1940s, he embraced an eclectic, collaborative approach shaped by early work on the Marshall Plan exhibitions in Paris. After moving to Paris in 1949, he worked in France for most of his life, with brief returns to Switzerland to join Geigy’s communication team (1952–53) and contribute to Expo 64 in Lausanne. Despite exhibitions and publications, he remains less recognized than peers. This monograph explores four key themes of his cross-disciplinary work, offering insight into a unique design practice rooted in postwar modernism. 

During his discreet yet exceptional career, Gérard Ifert was a graphic designer, scenographer, furniture maker, and photographer: in short, he was a designer. Encouraged by his training at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts in the late 1940s, then by his integration into the multi-disciplinary team of the Marshall Plan exhibitions in Paris in the early 1950s, he spent his life defending a multifaceted and collaborative approach to his profession. Considering the numerous publications and exhibitions of his work throughout his career, it is surprising that Gérard Ifert did not achieve the same level of recognition as other designers of his generation. This monograph offers some keys to understanding the career of this Swiss designer based in Paris. In four chapters, it explores different aspects of his work, highlights the cross-disciplinary nature that unites them, and investigates a unique approach to design that was specific to the context of the second half of the twentieth century. 

152 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 25 cm, pb, English