Steve McQueen is one of cinema's greatest legends and one of the best-paid Hollywood stars of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He became famous for films such as The Great Escape, which is about prisoners escaping from a Nazi camp located in Poland, and Bullitt, with one of the longest chase scenes in cinema history. In his films, he played characters of "real men" who do not talk about unnecessary things but instead pay attention to what they do. McQueen was such a man both on screen and in private.
McQueen had many interests which he did not hesitate to pursue. His greatest passion was vehicles, as is shown by the fact that he owned an aeroplane and held a pilot's licence. McQueen was involved in motor racing and seriously considered a career as a racing driver. His most tremendous success on the track was 1st place in his class at the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours. A few months later, Steve McQueen began filming his feature film, Le Mans, which, although financially a flop at the time, is still regarded today as one of the most faithful depictions of motor racing.
The biography of a "real man" was the inspiration for a unique signet ring. It is a copy of the original signet ring that McQueen wore, but with the new owner's initials. The design was a true typographic challenge. The idea was to convey the character of the original letters but with a different set of initials. I designed the mark in a vector program and then developed it in bullion. The blackened negative space has a hammered texture to increase the contrast between the letters and the background. The protruding sides of the rim and the two black stripes on the edges are distinctive features of the ring that McQueen wore.
