Eugene Samuel Grasset was a Franco-Swiss decorative artist working in the art nouveau style. He was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1845 and studied drawing under Francois-Louis David Bocion. In 1861 he moved to Zurich to study architecture and 1869-70 worked as a painter and sculptor in Lausanne before moving to Paris in 1871 where he designed furniture, fabrics, ceramics and jewellery. 1877 he turned to graphic design especially to poster design and book and magazine illustration. He taught design at the Ecole Guerin 1890-1903 and at the Ecole d’Art Graphique 1903-04. His ‘Grasset’ type face was introduced by the Peignot et Fils typefoundry at the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris.