Snooze, the German "Calligraffiti" Artist, on Why Process Matters More Than Product

Key facts

• Snooze is a German lettering artist who works under a nom de plume and practices "calligraffiti," a hybrid of calligraphy and graffiti.
• He discovered letters through graffiti at an early age, before his godfather gave him a parallel pen and a T-shirt by Amsterdam artist Niels Shoe Meulman (SHOE).
• Niels Shoe Meulman founded the "calligraffiti" movement, which inspired Snooze to study calligraphy for several years.
• Snooze's influences include brush pen calligraphy, different lettering styles, sign painting, and typography.
• He experiments with unconventional tools and materials, including a metal needle tip, string gel, stop-motion, compressed cellulose sponge, and growing plants in the shape of letters.
• His cardboard lettering projects reuse cardboard and packaging material he already had.
• Holiday experiments include lettering made from cocoa powder and flour, cookie dough cut into letters, paper strings laid out as letters, and a stop-motion animation for New Year 2026.
• He created a piece writing "It's all about the process, not the result" word by word and painting over each word until almost blank paper remained, as a response to generative AI and process shortcuts.