Letters as Symbols

Paul Ibou was a Belgian graphic designer and sculptor. He designed, among other things, a number of logos for large organisations. At the age of 17, Paul created his personal logo and pseudonym. Based on a few spheres and a simple body shape, he made a stylised owl. This owl shape would later return in many of his designs. Owl is “hibou” in French. Vermeersch left out the “h” and looked for a way to make “Ibou” an acronym. It became “Inventive Book Designer and Publisher”.

Paul Ibou worked first at an advertising studio and then briefly at a photogravure studio. In 1958 he completed the course “Publicity and Letters” at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp . He further studied at the “Higher Institute for Printing” of the Plantin Institute for Typography. Ibou then went to work for Nutricia as an art director. In 1961 Ibou became an independent designer and a few years later he received the first important commissions, including in 1965 for the Biennale for Sculpture in the Middelheim Park in Antwerp. In 1967 he made his first international study trip, which took him to New York.

Ibou’s fame increased and he received numerous assignments for major institutions. In 1980 he founded a magazine about design: Vorm in Vlaanderen. Of these, 14 issues and 2 yearbooks were published. In 1984 the magazine was stopped after Ibou was involved in a serious car accident, for which he had to recuperate for a long time. In 2001, Ibou stopped working as a graphic designer and focused on painting and sculpture. He sadly passed away in 2023, but his archive lives on through printed matter.

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