Inspiring designers, one letter at a time: Swiss Hand-lettering artist Stefan Kunz

The Art Of Hand-Lettering With Stefan Kunz

Based in Switzerland, Stefan Kunz posts examples of hand-lettering every day and is very interactive with his followers. Drawing words has always fascinated him and he loves to use this art to make reading interesting again and to grab people’s attention.

He started to draw by hand because that’s the only way I knew how to break out of the limitation of the app. In the beginning, he just wanted to post something on Instagram every day- his goal was to grow on Instagram. So his lettering had to be bettered and perfected. He started getting better and that made him more passionate.

You quit your bank job to pursue hand lettering full time. Pursuing a niche design practice like this is still considered to be risky. What advice do you have for young minds who want to follow their passion?

Pursuing hand lettering or something as niche is not considered to be a good idea. For me, I needed to have a diploma or something else I could fall back on. In case it wouldn’t work out. That’s why I took up banking. I always knew it was a short term thing. So quitting the banking job was just something that felt natural to do. And then finally the question you have to ask yourself is- do you have enough runway to build up your business?

I had different incomes. I was still shooting weddings at the time. I wanted to do different things. But lettering was always my main thing and I finally had enough saved up to be able to pursue this full time. I stopped doing wedding photography and stopped doing everything else I was already doing to sustain.

So it’s still considered risky, but my advice for any young mind who wants to follow their passion is to be smart about it and think about the next steps. Whatever it is that you want to be doing, really focus on that. Save up money first, make sure you have a plan, and that you follow it.

Who is your biggest inspiration? Where do you take your inspiration from?

Well, one of the things that I teach in my workshop is that inspiration really is everywhere.

You can’t really see it, but you really have to open your eyes. So it’s like looking inside your fridge. If you don’t see anything in your fridge, it’s because you’re not looking, you’re not actually taking those items out. So for me, inspiration is really whenever I decide to apply it. I can see it and that’s very helpful.

There are people that inspire me in business, and there are people whose design inspires me in the creative field. Usually people that have achieved a lot, that have worked with brands, and can show me how it is possible, inspire me.

What’s next for you? Anything we should be waiting for?

There’s definitely something big in the works, and there are other projects too. We’re working on tools. We’re working on workshops. I’m mainly trying to help other creatives and lettering artists to create more, and hopefully also find ways to inspire more people.

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