STEFAN KANCHEV Lord of the logos The artist Stefan Kanchev ( ) was a pioneer of graphic design in Bulgaria. An author who gained worldwide fame and figures in prestigious encyclopaedias of graphic design and trademarks. In numerous Ameriacan, Hungarian and German publications (Novum Gebrauchsgrafik, Neue Werbung) Kanchev presented Bulgaria as a personal sign of talent and professionalism.In 1967 he was represented at Trademark International, New York, with 23 trademarks. And in 1994 Stefan Kanchev was officially ranked among the world’s ten most important graphic artists. In the International trademarks centre in Ostend, Belgium, he is seen together with legends like Paul Rand and Saull Bass, Yousaku Kamemura, Jasques Garamond.

CREATIVITY Hundreds of postage stamps, books, posters, thousands of registered trademarks. New Year’s cards, greeting cards, ad pages, fancy letterheads, labels, packaging… Kanchev worked actively in all fields of graphic art. Active and uncompromising in the commissions he headed in the Union of Bulgarian Artists and the Centre for Applied Aesthetics. His criteria was the same he applied to his own graphic art – varied and harmonious composition, inventiveness, attention to graphic order and balance. It is difficult to believe that this harmonious master worked entirely during socialism – he overcome the ideological dogmas of the time and managed to create his design as a citizen of the world. Much of his work is inspired by Bulgarian folklore and traditions.

Traditional folklore costumes

Bulgarian folklore mask

Folklore motives and embroidery

New year 1980 stamp

Converter Magazine Cover 1971

FOLK ART Kanchev’s work is an amazing mixture of cosmopolitanism and loyalty to the Bulgarian visual memory, to Bulgarian folk art. His trademarks are understood by any citizen of the world after 1960s. Atthat time there was still no talk of integrated marketing communication, brand strategies and communication measures– his marks are known for their imaginative ideas and aesthetic genius, always easily read..

PIONEER Stefan Kanchev did not copy blindly folklore colours and graphic schemes. As he put it: “Canons grow old, they lag behind the dynamic of the time.” For him, the spirit of the time was important, therefore he watched the development of abstract art and pop art. After the 1960s, this is a clearly seen in his own work– ornamental rhythmic is replaced by a graphic system with strict structure and mathematical logic. In designing his brilliant graphic vignettes and trademarks, Kanchev worked with the means of expressions available to any artist. But in his designs the line, the geometrical figures, the colour harmonies are subjected to a flawless aesthetic and meaningful order. “I am for all that is new. For modern art. For any trends inspired by time.”

TYPEFACES Stefan Kanchev was familiar with the best examples in the field of typefaces in Bulgaria and abroad, and uses a letter style for each concrete task. He always coped brilliantly with the difficult task of combining Latin and Cyrillic characters. He created new typefaces in an unrivalled way. The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet owes much to this master who is still topical in the beginning of the 21st century. Kanchev’s typographic examples comprise new images in which the combination of sign and typographic elements are inseparable.

TRADEMARKS Many logos designed by Stefan Kanchev are still used in Bulgaria. TV antennas today are an almost forgotten thing of the past, but the logo of the national television created by Kanchev (the letters B & T, intertwined like an antenna) still exists and is easily recognizable. The Petrol trademark with the likable dragon is still with us, even if the company itself underwent numerous transformations; the Union of Bulgarian Artists coped with the crisis of the transition under the logo left by Kanchev; the Black Sea resorts still use logos designed by him with uniquely intertwined seagulls, waves, birds, geometrical figures, symbols of minimalists hotels.

National television logoPetrol trademark

Television graphics

COMPUTER AND HAND Stefan Kanchev knows exactly how, not only what. He lawlessly designed his logos and brilliant calligraphies as combinations full-empty, visual-associative, image-sign, to craft a master gem: “Some think that the computer will do it all. Technologies save time, yes. But the hand has to touch the computer project to render it graphic.” Kanchev directed a symbolical message to his followers in a sign, created by the first three letters of the Bulgarian alphabet. His ABC traces the typographic development of our society through the Cyrillic script, our Slavic past, ideology, pragmatism, technology and future. He left three dots for the next letters. Stefan Kanchev knew that the trademark is rooted in tradition, and that the signs we leave behind are important.