LCC GMD & DPS alumnus Creative director Kuchar Swara

LCC GMD & DPS alumnus Creative director Kuchar Swara has launched a new watch brand, Sekford.

Swara, who founded men’s magazine Port with Dan Crowe and Matt Willey in 2011, says he had the idea to set up the brand after working on a redesign of Milanese design and architecture magazine Case de Arbitare. “Whilst working on the art direction, I was always meeting designers and brand owners who made physical products. I was inspired by their enterprise and wanted to apply ideas of design and aesthetics that I had learnt from working as an art director to a physical object,” he explains.

“I was also looking for a great dress watch for less than £1000 at the time, but couldn’t find one. I asked some friends in Milan if they knew anyone that I could work with that knew how to use 3D software – a friend introduced me to to Cedric [a watch designer] and Pierre [an industrial designer] who are based in Clisson, France; and we went from there,” he adds.  Swara says the watch’s design is inspired by 18th and 19th century English pocket watches, as well as the work of Scottish designer Christopher Dresser and typographer Edward Johnston.

“To my mind, British modernism during the 19th century touched on something very special. Both Dresser and Johnston have long passed but their work is still alive today – look at Alessi and the signage for the London Underground,” he says.