Drawer
(though mostly for a chest of his peers)
Area, city, regional and country maps, public transport and motorway networks, traffic schemes, road signage, logos of local companies, but also city perspectives and architectural plans of some buildings: Sverdia has led septival to explore numerous aspects of drawing, which he practices mostly freehand, sometimes on a computer software. The very small size of his handwritten characters, e.g. in street names on city maps, has often been said to cause headaches…
Septival was given the unique opportunity to exhibit some of his works in Paris, at Carrousel du Louvre, from 17 to 19 October 2025 (he even feared that the Louvre burglars were after his drawings), and is renewing the experience at Café Art’s, Geneva, from 5 February to 31 March 2026.
A ‘bird’s-eye drawing’ of Antheilles, as septival puts it himself (for whatever that means). The city’s location in the French-speaking region of the country makes it slightly more accessible to foreigners. The well-known newspapers “Un Quart d’Heure” and “1/2 Heure” are produced here.
The city perspectives above may not have a precise localisation, but they clearly depict Sverdia, as the “Poste de Sverdie” vehicle on the left picture proves. The scarcity of passers-by which leaps to the eye can easily be explained: all drawings are made during live TV shows no one wants to miss (such as an appearance of septival on a national channel)
Detailed map of Ortevy, the region where French is spoken – with a few sverdicisms, needless to say – which stretches from the sea in the South up to the Massif de la Bérolie, with its prestigious ski resorts, and includes picturesque landscapes such as the Val Sec (Dry Valley) or the Vallon d’Ocre (Ochre Valley). Set at the southernmost end of the island, the metropolis of Antheilles, unfortunately outframed here, stands for the easy-going way of life à la sverdienne, despite its large scale.
The city of Eroy (Erøĭ in Sverdian, the local idiom), economic and political capital of the island, nowadays (above) and around 1850 (below, with plot divisions)
Featuring express and local lines like New York and a logo which is believed to have inspired the London Tube’s, the impressive Eroy underground system (above) obviously displays computer-designed network maps, while the tramway and bus company still has septival draw them by hand (right), to the latter’s greatest enjoyment.
Noteworthy is the original line naming pattern of the underground: lines bear the names of major cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Cairo, Dublin...
Three additional graphic creations by septival: the 10 Sve note (which septival, by mere chance, adorns himself), the incredibly innovative logo of “Un Quart d’Heure”, Sverdia’s free daily tabloid, as well as the visual charter of Sverdian road signage (illustrated here by a sign from motorway A2, right before the exit towards expressway B201)
© septival 2026