Boston, Massachusetts

My friend Chaz Maviyane-Davies, a Zimbabwean expat and Professor of Design at the Massachusetts College of Art, has for the past few years stuck a new tear-sheet flyer each month with a different quote on it outside his office door in the college… above is the current offering, and following is Chaz’s explanation…

Paul Peter Piech (1920–1996) was a mentor, teacher and friend. He was perhaps the most prolific, skillful and passionate graphic designer I will ever meet and whose influence on me still resonates. His obituary in the UK Independent began “Some remarkable individuals keep on believing, throughout their lives, that the world could change for the better. The artist and printer Paul Peter Piech was one such man.” They concluded “In our current climate of fin de siecle despair at the state of the world Paul Peter Piech stood out as a man who knew how to turn any anger about man’s inhumanity to man into creative work with a disturbing social message.”

Even as a troublesome upstart, he supported me totally and in 1980 just before I completed my BA at Middlesex University, he graciously illustrated (lino-cut) this identity for me for my stationery needs. A kindred spirit, this quote reminds me fondly of him as we need the likes of Paul more than ever today.