Readymag Stories: Rosmarie Tissi

odermatt & tissi

After finishing the School of Applied Art in Zurich, Tissi joined a design consultancy, but this job didn’t offer much of a creative challenge. She started looking around for a new place and that is how she met Sigi Odermatt, who was known for his bold style and rebellious attitude towards industry rules. He had his own studio and hired Tissi as an apprentice. After a decade, she became a partner and the studio was renamed to O&T.

A poster. Red, white and black rectangles on a green background

Sigi Odermatt

Poster for the book presentation and poster exhibition O&T at the downhill of Zurich, 1983.
© Rosmarie Tissi, Zurich.

Back of a folder Offset for the printing company A.Schöb. Letters OFFSET on a yellow background

Back of a folder „Offset“ for the printing company A.Schöb, Zurich, 1982.
© Rosmarie Tissi, Zurich.

Serenaden 97. A poster. White music-related icons on a black background

Cover of a folder Lichtsatz. Word Lichtsatz on a yellow background

i never turned down any jobs but i have also made a point of looking for work that promised to be interesting.—rosmarie tissi

A word Graphis on a blue and purple background

Cover for „Graphit 241“ ( Contained an article on Odermatt & Tissi), 1985.
© Rosmarie Tissi, Zurich.

new heritage

Rosmarie Tissi’s style has been evolving throughout her career: from pure functionality of the grid-based Modernist design to a very individualistic aesthetic with vivid colors, peculiar proportions and experimental layouts. Way too abstract for the “Swiss style”, her works also were too Swiss to be mistaken for something else — that trait Tissi shared with Wolfgang Weingart.

Proposal for new Swiss Banknotes. Sfr 50 Sophie Tauber-Arp, 1990–91.
© Rosmarie Tissi, Zurich.