Stefan Kanchev
Stefan Kirov Kanchev was a Bulgarian graphic artist best known for his logo design work. Referred to as the "father of Bulgarian graphic design" and the "master of the trademark", Kanchev authored around 1,600 logos, including logos for the National Palace of Culture, National Art Gallery, National Opera and Ballet, Bulgarian National Television, Union of Bulgarian Artists, TZUM, International Fair Plovdiv, and Petrol AD.
Early life
Kanchev was born 6 August 1915 in Kalofer, a town in the sub-Balkan valleys of south central Bulgaria. The son of an icon painter, he enrolled at the National Academy of Art in the capital Sofia when he was 25, where he studied mural painting in 1940–1945 under Dechko Uzunov.Career
After leaving the National Academy of Art shortly before graduation, Kanchev took part in exhibitions and biennales in Bulgaria and abroad over the next 22 years, including Belgrade, Budapest, Berlin, Moscow, Warsaw, Brno, Ljubljana and New York City. During this time, individual exhibitions of his work were organized in Sofia, Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Warsaw and Budapest, among other cities.In 1967 when he was 52, Kanchev participated in an AIGA international exhibition in which he presented 23 of his logos, including his Petrol AD trademark. Fifteen years later, in 1982, Japanese magazine Idea ran a 16-page feature on Kanchev and his work. At the age of 79 in 1994 he was named among the world's top ten trademark artists along with Paul Rand and Saul Bass. Kanchev died on 22 August 2001. In June 2009, the premier Sofia Design Week featured an exhibition dedicated to Kanchev's logos.