The Swiss Handyman

Lowrider of the Alps

Serge “Lowrider” Nideger is a beautiful anomaly. Switzerland gave him the work ethic, precision, discipline and modesty of “just doing your job.” His travel experiences and countless trips to the United States helped develop a unique visual language that is 180 degrees away from his motherland. The result? A uniquely rich career balanced between producing art prints for famed artists and galleries, and developing his own identity applied across the globe through handpainted signs, walls, T-shirts, stickers and, of course, screen prints. We chatted from his studio in Fribourg, Switzerland on a cold January day, reminiscing about early silkscreens, starting his own business, and the Lowrider World.

Kimou “Grotesk” Meyer: Hello, Serge! How are you? Glad I can finally interview you. We met back in 2001, in Geneva, to talk about my first silkscreen. We have become very close friends since then, and you have been the only person printing my fine art. There have been so many exciting creative projects since we met!

Serge Lowrider: Hello Kimou, it's going very well. Life is beautiful.

Tell me a little bit about how you started to print and what gave you the urge to learn the craft? You also told me that, at the time, your apprenticeship included sign painting, right?

I started to collect stickers around eight or nine years old. At the same time, I discovered screen printing at a family friend’s house who was a decorator. It made me realize that there was a job where I could make a living producing what I loved and collected. I didn't need much more to realize that this was going to be my job. After this family visit, for years I kept saying that when I grew up, I’d be printing stickers!