Chermayeff & Geismar

Chermayeff & Geismar:
Symbols, logotypes and graphic design
from the last five decades

The galleries of Pera Museum host the works of outstanding artist and friend, Ivan Chermayeff and his esteemed partner Tom Geismar, who are the distinguished guests of the Museum and of Turkey. Considered as one of the most brilliant graphic designers of the 20th century, Ivan Chermayeff has created a number of truly memorable designs with his partner Tom Geismar and has honored our country several times with his presence. Through his unique and exceptional works on the emblem, logo and corporate identity designs of Koç Holding and various other Koç companies, he has made it possible for the names of these institutions, and by extension of Turkey, to be acknowledged by the world of design.

Last year, Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar created the emblem, logo and corporate identity designs of the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, as well as the Pera Museum. The two designers' artistic creation of over fifty years is displayed currently at the Pera Museum, which owes its unique corporate image largely to their genius. 

Since its founding in 1957, Chermayeff & Geismar has pioneered a transformation in the practice of graphic design. Located in New York but working for clients in many countries, especially Turkey, they have pursued a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach across a broad range of projects and disciplines, from the development of scores of famous trademarks to the design of notable museum exhibitions; from hundreds of imaginative posters for cultural events to large-scale artworks for distinguished architectural projects. 

Throughout all these tasks, Chermayeff & Geismar's work has remained consistent-not in style, but in its approach to design. Accepting the Modernist ideal that design is a problem-solving discipline, they have sought to humanize that ideal through humor, artistic invention and an entrepreneurial spirit.

"As duos go, in the design world at least, Chermayeff and Geismar are as familiar as Lennon and McCartney, with almost as many greatest hits to their names, including some appearing in this catalog. After starting their partnership in 1960, they established themselves as undisputed masters of late-twentieth-century American modernism."

Steven Heller, Art Director
The New York Times Book Review