NewsApr 29, 2025

Tiit Telmet: A legacy in design

Remembrance by Gary Ludwig

On January 15th, 2025, Canada lost one of its truly great, most respected and influential graphic designers, Tiit Telmet RGD Emeritus.

Tiit was born in the city of Tallinn in Russian-occupied Estonia in April of 1942. In 1944 his parents were able to escape with the family to Germany, where they spent the next six years as DPs (Displaced Persons – a post-WWII term describing those forced to leave their home country due to the devastation of war and no longer able to return).

In 1950, at the age of eight, the family was able to emigrate to the US, where Tiit received his formal education. Originally his post-secondary studies were in architecture at the University of Michigan, but, when he discovered his true passion was graphic design, he transferred to Western Michigan University, where, in 1965 at the age of 23, he graduated from WMU with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design.

His earliest design experience was in Los Angeles, working as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft. He moved on to work in Minnesota, then Detroit and finally, in 1971, as the US slipped into a recession, he moved to Toronto. There, he joined Stuart Ash RGD Emeritus as one of the first employees at the new Toronto office of Gottschalk+Ash Limited. Tiit became a partner in 1978 but left seven years later to start his own firm, Telmet Design Associates, in 1985.

His work spanned everything from corporate identities to product packaging to publication design to architectural signage, but he truly found his calling with postage stamp design, where his passion and talent shone brightly. After his first stamp design in 1988, commemorating wildlife conservation, he went on to design over 90 Canada Post stamps. The medium appealed to his design philosophy: “There is charm in simplicity. If a visual element has no meaning, why use it?” He was also a design innovator. In 1993, he undertook a three-year-long initiative to design a series of 24 stamps commemorating Canada’s historic land vehicles and created Canada Post's first stamps ever designed digitally on computer software.

Tiit was a strong advocate for Canadian design as a profession, and for professional practice. A Certified RGD from the RGD's inception, he was very involved with the launch of the Association, providing office space for them in his studio and designing their communication materials as they first got off the ground. Since the mid-1970s, he was an active professional member of the Ontario Chapter of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) and their National Council. Tiit held numerous GDC positions in Ontario, including Director, Treasurer, President, Acting President and chaired numerous Committees. At the National level, he held positions on the National Council for over 12 years as a Council Rep and Vice President and juried numerous regional GDC award shows and exhibitions. (The Ontario Chapter would eventually break off and become the RGD in 1996.) In 2014, Tiit became an RGD Emeritus Member.

He was made a fellow of the GDC in 1988, and, in 1996, he received the ICoD (formerly ICOGRADA) Excellence Award, in recognition of consistent, outstanding achievement in practice, education or promotion of graphic design. Also in 1988, he was inducted by nomination of his peers into the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

Tiit liked it little better than settling into his quiet home office in Toronto’s West End, where he looked out into his backyard and made design happen. He felt that design is “a way of life”, and he pursued it with joy up until his untimely passing.

Tiit was more than a great designer and a great advocate. He was devoted to his family and is survived by his wife, Kaja, his daughters, Kaili and Heli, and his grandchildren. As a proud Estonian, he was a vital part of a tight-knit Estonian-Canadian diaspora community that also feels his loss. Tiit succumbed to mesothelioma peacefully, at home, surrounded by his family, as was his wish.

Tiit was a force who personally helped elevate Canadian graphic design to a level of world-class sophistication and global recognition. But Tiit was more than a great designer and a great advocate. He was easygoing, funny, supportive and many in the design community looked to him as a mentor and an inspiration. Tiit was a loyal friend, delightful company and a wonderful human being. Those of us who were lucky enough to know him mourn his passing deeply and miss him greatly.