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Chain Letter: Serge Nidegger, Lowrider Sign Co.

Lowrider Sign Co.'s Serge Nidegger and a Parisian palimpsest that has inspired him for two decades.

Better Letters

Nov 16, 2023 • 3 min read

Sign painting vs graffiti in Paris.

Chain Letter invites a sign painter or lettering artist to share a piece of lettering that has influenced or inspired them, before passing the baton to someone else, in a never-ending chain.

In the last one, Nicolai Sclater, aka Ornamental Conifer, nominated Serge Nidegger at Lowrider Sign Co. (@sergelowrider), a sign painter and screen printer in Fribourg, Switzerland.

What have you selected?

Vertical hand-painted sign which has various graffiti tags in marker pen written over it. — The mixture of traditional sign painting and graffiti which caught the attention of Serge Nidegger in Paris.

I found this sign discarded in Paris, so kept it; I must have had it for over 20 years now.

How did it inspire you?

I was first drawn to the panel by the juxtaposition of the two worlds: sign painting and graffiti. But, soon after, I started to appreciate the quality of the letters and the layout.

Details of the palimpsest arising from graffiti tags written over the hand-painted signs.

I was struck by its simplicity, and the efficiency of the work from that period. There are so many little details that have inspired me in my work, from the variety of lettering styles to the brushstrokes that can be seen close-up, and which are absolutely incredible.

Brushstrokes visible on different elements of the original hand-painted sign.

The sign painter who lettered this simple panel had years of experience and the Sans Cesse [incessantly] headline chimes with what we're trying to convey with sign painting.