The history of the logo of
LA SPIROTECHNIQUE

The history of the LA SPIROTECHNIQUE logo is far from trivial.

It's worth noting that an initial design was inspired by the poster for the film "The Sunken Galley" (photo 1), but the overly complex logo (photo 2) was abandoned in favor of the logo we all know.

The latter was inspired by two historical photos from 1943 taken during the filming of the film ÉVAVES (Wrecks), shot on the wreck of the DALTON, which lies off the pier of the Planier Island lighthouse, south of the Bay of Marseille.

This was the first film shot using an Air Liquide-Cousteau scuba suit.

The first image (photo 3) shows the DALTON's helm in a flock of damselfish. A photograph widely used in early diving books. Today, the wheel is no longer present on the wreck, as it was later recovered and is now in a private collection (photo 4).

The second photo is of Frédéric Dumas moving fluidly through the wreck (photo 5).

The poster for the film ÉPAVE (photo 6), which was created in 1947, was based on this definitive logo.

 

Thus, despite himself, Frédéric Dumas became the icon of the LA SPIROTECHNIQUE brand...

As an anecdote, the logo was created by André Guyony, who worked in the accounting department at LA SPIROTECHNIQUE.

Here are two examples of the first logo before it was subsequently stylized: first on a document (photo 7), then on the first LA SPIROTECHNIQUE catalog from 1956 (photo 8), on diving tank stickers (photos 9 and 10), and on equipment (photo 11).

Over time, the logo was increasingly stylized, culminating in this final version (photo 12) before being replaced by the new AQUALUNG logo in 1998.