Fidel Peugeot

Fidel Peugeot is a Swiss designer, artist and musician who has been working across a wide range of creative fields since 1985.

In 2002, he founded the WALKING CHAIR DESIGN Studio in Vienna with the Italian designer KARL EMILIO PIRCHER and worked exclusively under this brand until 2020. You can find their collaborative projects via this link.

This page provides an overview of his entire body of work, to which he has made a significant contribution as an author.

Original Fidel Icon by Poumy (1996) and Daisuke (2000)

FIDEL PEUGEOT
WALKING CHAIR DESIGN STUDIO GMBH
RASUMOFSKYGASSE 1, AT–1030 WIEN
ATU 55079006

STAMMGASSE 9/7, AT–1030 WIEN/VIENNA
FLORIANIGASSE 1, AT–3900 SCHWARZENAU
+43–699–18.99.44.72
hello@fidelpeugeot.com

Fidel Peugeot by Nicole Zachmann (2025)

Fidel Peugeot is an internationally active designer, artist and design philosopher of Swiss origin, based in Vienna and the Austrian Waldviertel region. His work is as diverse as his design approaches. Here are the key milestones of his professional career.

Anti-disciplinary: Peugeot's positions begin with music. As a graphic design student, he started the pirate radio station Radio Glaibasel. From there, he moved to Paris and New York, then to Vienna, via detours through then-trendy advertising agencies such as WHS Zurich and GK Paris. Peugeot then concentrated on typography and font design, consistently rejuvenating the renowned Swiss typography tradition. Together with product designer Karl Emilio Pircher, he founded the Walking Chair Design Studio, expanding the boundaries of classic design far beyond graphic design and product design to include storytelling. This also gave rise to the Telepong project, a multifunctional communication device that anticipated the smartphone.

Visionary: The internet had only been on the market for a short time when Peugeot spotted its weaknesses – bland system fonts that stifled any individuality on websites and social media. In the 1990s, Peugeot therefore designed the first pixel fonts, such as the Lomo Font for the Lomographic Society. This period also saw the creation of a series of digitised handwritings, an exuberant inventory of characterful individuality, some of which have also enjoyed great commercial success as system handwritings. 

Environmental: A society committed to petrochemical consumerism will sooner or later reach a dead end. Fidel Peugeot and Walking Chair are taking early steps to get the traffic jam flowing again. Workshops at Chinese universities and biennials in Africa are dedicated to the topics of upcycling and recycling. The Bottle Boy made from PET bottles and Sister Blister, a light fixture made from pharmaceutical blister packs, are two products that are both symptomatic and successful

Architectural/sculptural: As part of the designer duo Walking Chair, exhibition architectures, furniture and design concepts for bars, swimming pools and slow food chains have been created over the last 25 years. Highlights include the bathroom in Banja Luka, Bosnia, exhibition design for Hofmobilien-Depot and the Ping meets Pong show at the MAK in Vienna, featuring the presentation of the round table tennis table of the same name.

Free work: The designer is always looking for inspiration and is therefore naturally also a collector: Peugeot creates his own archives and collects on behalf of his fictional alter egos Lars Olaf Bayer and Sunja Klementitt. He buys up estates and publishes the two's dense poetry. The joy of poetry meets music again – new songs, new collections and new poems are created. Work in progress. 

Peugeot's credos are inherent in his work and always present: Form follows content and design follows delight. Good design provides topics of conversation, brings people together, cheers up the senses, turns the context upside down, makes people think and questions stale habits. Good design conveys humanistic intentions and simplifies life in an increasingly complex world. These are the immodest demands that design should strive to exceed. 

Client list & shows: Apollinaris, Vöslauer, Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Imperial Furniture Collection Vienna, Museum of Folk Art, Vienna, Albertina (logo design) Banja Luca Swimming Pool, Puff Coctail Bar, Siemens Communication, Vienna Alpine Association, Tyler Brulée Wallpaper, Ghiang Zou University, Ecole a Geneve, Capital of Culture Linz, Marien Apotheke Vienna, Dar es Salaam Biennale, Kinshasa Biennale...

Fidel Peugeot (alias Sebastian Rudolf Baumgartner) geb. am 17. 12. 69 in Basel-Stadt (Schweiz)

Schulen in Basel
Studium an der Fachklasse für Grafikdesign (Schule für Gestaltung in Basel/SfG) bei u. a. Prof. Armin Hofmann (Kommunikationsdesign), Prof. Wolfgang Weingart (Typografie) Prof. Andre Gürtler (Schriftdesign) und Prof. René Pulfer (Film/Video)

1985 Abschluss mit Diplom
1988/9 Freier Studienaufenthalt in Paris
1989/90 Freier Studienaufenthalt in New York

Seit 1990 freiberuflich tätig als Musiker, Texter, Art Direktor und Schriftdesigner

Fidel Peugeot lebt seit 1992 in wien.

Projekte/Ausstellungen

1987 
• »Erste Kompositionen für das Tonband«

1988 
• Gründung von RGB 107,6 (RadioGlaiBasel 107,6) zusammen mit Karl Rottweiler  

1989 
• »Mach dich mal wieder schön« Frühling/Sommer-Mode Katalog (RGB 107,6-Verlag)
• »Là-Bas« Einzelaustellung in der GalerieMarais (Paris)

1990 
• »Das Karusell« Komposition des Rilke Gedichtes für die franz./engl. Sängerin »Hermine«
• Eröffnung des ersten Automatenradios (Ausstellung an der Bushaltestelle Feldbergstrasse, Basel)

1991
• »Die Geschwister Sommer« Illustrationen 

1994 
• Jedes Los gewinnt... »Der Tau auf der Rose/ Das Fleisch in der Hose/ Die Sau aus der Dose« Erste Ausstellung (mit Bestellkatalog) der Sammlung Lars Olaf Bair (Milchzentrale, Wien)
• Veröffentlichung von Sunja Klementits Urlaubsnotizen »Ich sag’s halt einfach« im RGB 107,6-Verlag (O-Ton: Karl Rottweiler)
• »Das Lusterding von Sunja Klemenit« Verkaufsaustellung von Sunja K.s Kristallschmuck

1995 
• »Die Gute für Alle« Die digitale Handschriftensammlung wird gegründet, »Ling« die erste digitale Handschrift wird veröffentlicht.
• Teilnahme an der »Hedonia 95« (Messepalast Wien)
• Veröffentlichung von Cosima von Gersterns Heimatroman »Höfles« im RGB 107,6-Verlag 

1996 
• Veröffentlichung von Sunja Klementits Urlaubsnotizen »Ich sag’s halt einfach« im RGB 107,6-Verlag (O-Ton: Karl Rottweiler)
• »B.B.’s Besendichte – 47 leichte Füllen« Uraufführung des RGB-Hörtheaters des gleichnamigen Buches und Füllenausstellung. (Marekgarage, Museumsquartier Wien) 

1997 
• »Toni Romano« Digitalisierung/Resstaurierung der gleichnamigen italienieschen Liebeslieder 

1998
• »NeueEurostile« Design der Schrift für fastforward (Mode in den 90-ern-Ausstellung, Wien/San Francisco)

1999 
• »LomoWall«, »LomoWeb«, »LomoSamples«, »LomoCopy«, »LomoActionSampler« Entwicklung von 5 Schriftfamilien für die Lomografische Gesellschaft International.

1999 Konzept/Texte für LomoMauritius-Bildagenturkatalog
• »Sack« Design der gleichnamigen Schablonenschrift für die Jannis Kounellis-Ausstellung im Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK, Wien)

2000 
• »Line« Design der Headlinschrift für das gleichnamige Wallpaper-Magazin 
• Texte für Ping-Pong-Ausstellung von Lomo-Art Direktor Bernhard Winkler (efish-gallery Kyoto, Japan)
• Konzept/Fonts für Telepong-Device

Preise:

Fidel Peugeot nimmt bis heute keine Preise (Honorierungen) an.
RGB 107,6 verleiht seit 1990 den »Wayne McLaren-Kulturpreis«