8th February 1949

The inception of the Supraphon logo

Ultraphon had registered the Supraphon trademark back in 1932 (a label for electrical record-players and, later on, records made for export), yet the well-known logo of a lion with a lyre was only created in 1949, by the designer Václav Zajíček, who won the competition announced on 8 February by the national enterprise Gramofonové závody in Prague. The competition terms included the requirement that the designs had to feature the word “Supraphon” and make it clear that the records were made in Czechoslovakia. The 24-year-old Zajíček submitted eight designs under the name “Václav Ludvík”, and one of them won.