Paula Scher’s Marriage Life with her Husband Seymour Chwast

Paula Scher is an American graphic designer, art educator in design, and painter. She was born on October 6, 1948, in Washington, D.C. She is also known as the first female to serve as the principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.

Scher pursued her art education at the Tyler School of Art, located in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1970 from this institution.

Meet Seymour Chwast, Veteran Graphic Designer and Illustrator

Born in the Bronx in 1931, Seymour Chwast was into art and design at a young age. Seeing Snow White on screen as a child sparked a passion for drawing and animation. By 1938, he was taking WPA-sponsored art classes.

The next year, at age eight, he attended the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows with his mother, decades later he co-authored a book about the iconic event.

He co-founded the highly influential Push Pin Studios in the 1950s with Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel, creating bold, graphic work that defined a new visual language.

What was he known for?

As co-founder of the groundbreaking Push Pin Studios, Seymour Chwast made an indelible impact on graphic design over his decades-long career. He became known as a master of adapting historical artistic styles and movements into contemporary graphic designs.

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Chwast co-founded Push Pin in New York in the 1950s alongside Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel.

Chwast himself developed an incredibly diverse body of work spanning posters, logos, advertisements, children’s books, and more. His designs were widely celebrated for their urgency, obsessive detail, and unique eclectic aesthetic.

How Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast First Met?

In January 1970, a 22-year-old Paula Scher, fresh out of art school, brought her portfolio to the offices of Push Pin Studios, to show her work to Seymour Chwast, the legendary illustrator and graphic designer she had long admired. At the time, Chwast was the co-founder of Push Pin, the highly influential design firm he had started in the 1950s with Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel.

Scher, still a senior at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, was incredibly nervous to get her idol’s feedback.

“Seymour is Paula’s idol,” said Michael Bierut, Scher’s colleague at Pentagram. Even later in her career, when Scher had designed iconic album covers for major rock stars, she was still more thrilled to meet Chwast than any musician.

As Scher tells it, she originally wanted to be an illustrator like Chwast, but working around him made her realize she’d never be as good. So she decided to focus more on design. Chwast was impressed with the young woman, and two years after their first meeting they got married.

Paula and Seymour’s Marriage

Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast married in 1973 when Scher was 25 and Chwast 42. But after only five years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1978. Chwast dismissively characterized this split as “time off for bad behavior.”

However, 11 years later in 1989, Scher and Chwast remarried. Now in their 70s, they have been happily remarried for over 30 years.

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The couple lives together in a modern Chelsea loft in New York City, just around the corner from the Pentagram offices where Scher works. They also have a countryside home in Connecticut.

While Scher and Chwast never had children together, they are both proud parents to their beloved dogs.

Chwast has two daughters, Pamela and Eve, from a previous marriage.

Inside Paula and Seymour’s Homes

Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast’s modern Chelsea loft in New York City bears the distinctive stylings of the creative designer duo. Their home is furnished with mid-century modern classics like a Le Corbusier lounge chair and Alvar Aalto dining set. Scher proudly highlights a custom abstract rug she designed herself, calling it a “typographic rug.”

The walls display Chwast’s artistic talents, including a giant metal cutout of shoes that Scher admits pokes fun at her tendency to leave shoes strewn about.

“He hates that I’m always leaving piles of shoes around the house,”

Ms. Scher said.

Chwast’s treasured collection of toy motorcycles accents the space, along with toys belonging to their beloved Australian shepherds.

During the workweek, their dog Mattie accompanies Scher to the Pentagram office while Mickie goes to Push Pin with Chwast.

The couple also owns a countryside home in Connecticut, offering a stark change of scenery. Their historic Arts and Crafts cottage brims with cozy, overstuffed furniture that Scher describes as “sloppy.” With two guesthouses, a pool, and gardens, this peaceful property provides a retreat where Scher and Chwast often spend weekends immersed in their studios creating new artworks together.

What are they doing now??

Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast are rightfully considered among the greatest graphic designers of their generation. Over decades-spanning careers, they have made monumental contributions to graphic design across countless mediums.

Scher, a Pentagram partner, has racked up awards including the prestigious AIGA Medal and Chrysler Award for Innovation. She is also in the Art Directors Hall of Fame. Likewise, Chwast has earned honors from the Art Directors Club and the American Institute of Graphic Arts, plus an honorary doctorate from Parsons.

Now in their 70s, the legendary couple continues creating as energetically as ever. Scher works out of the New York Pentagram office, while Chwast heads up Push Pin Studios.