As a child, what did Sébastien Arputzo draw?

I'm not going to be very original, but I used to draw motorcycles! I've been drawing them since I could hold a pencil... At the beginning, I was drawing mostly motorcycles in profile, then riders' actions: it wasn't very creative.

In high school, I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a designer, a helmet painter... Then, at the age of 14, I sold my first helmet design to the brand Lazer! And I started creating mascots, which I signed SAD - for Sébastien Arputzo Design.

When it was pointed out to me that "sad" means "sad" in English [laughs], I changed to ASD.

ASD is now a brand in its own right.

Yes, I was the originator, but since 2022, two of us have been at the helm, together with Frédéric Suzzoni. We focus on two types of activities: product design for third-party brands and the development of our own lines of self-adhesive motorcycle graphics kits and custom tailor-made racing suits.

Which brands have called on the pencil stroke by ASD?
X-Lite was one of the first major helmet manufacturers to put its trust in me by entrusting me with the creation of decorations for its mass-produced products, including a design evoking the masks of the Easter Island statues. One day, the MotoGP rider Carlos Checa, who was under contract with this brand, spotted one of my designs and wanted to have it reproduced on his racing helmet. It was quite flattering!

Then there was Arai, one of my most regular customers. One year, the Arai catalog had no less than five ASD designs. I remember one design inspired by the NAVY fighter planes. Justin Barcia wanted to have it reproduced on his helmet for the AMA Supercross race in San Diego, organized in memory of the American military. I was very happy about that too.

I also worked for HJC, Shoei (with the Replica helmets of Jules Cluzel and Eugene Laverty), LS2 (for the Replica Loris Baz and Randy de Puniet) or Simpson.

But it's not only the helmets...

Since 2005, I'm Head Designer of Five Gloves, a French brand of motorcycle and bike gloves, for which I'm in charge of design and product development. I have also done some bike decals for Giant.

Above all, I can't forget my driver customers. It all started thanks to Arnaud Vincent, who asked me for a mascot commemorating his GP125 world championship title in 2002. I was then 19 years old. Since then, I made mascots for Jonathan Rea or Stefan Everts, signed the decoration of Karel Abraham's Ducati MotoGP... When I think about it, it's crazy!

Loris Baz, Randy de Puniet, Fred Bolley, brothers Stéphane and Boris Chambon, Jules Cluzel, Eugene Laverty, Florian Marino, Mike Di Meglio, Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira have, at one time or another, worn a mascot, lettering, race numbers, helmet decals or a racing suit signed by ASD

How did the ASD brand come into being?

When I got out of school, I worked for two years with the designer Alain Olivier, then I started my own business in 2004. At the same time, I started riding on the track with a Yamaha R6. It was the beginning of digital printing.

A printer where I had made a series of stickers explained to me that I could now print them individually. So I designed my first graphics kit, for my motorcycle, digitally printed and - at the time, fortunately no longer the case - cut out by hand.

Friends saw my bike, asked me if I could make them a graphics kit... Then one thing leading to another, I started to sell them. Graphics kits existed in motocross, but not in roadracing. There was a demand.

ASD has its own signature style. How would you describe it?

My goal when I design a graphics kit is twofold: I want to enhance the work of the bike designers and offer our customers a kit that is easy to apply according to the lines and curves of the fairing.

I avoid overloaded designs and that's why I don't offer a 100% customizable kit: I want a strong identity, with clean, taut lines when you look at the bike from a distance, and then details that reveal themselves when you look at it up close. I like the shapes to fit together; I try to respect the parallels, angles and lines of the bike.

Creating the template for a graphics kit must be quite a headache...

It's very tedious indeed... You have to cover the whole motorcycle with adhesive film and trace the smallest shapes with felt pens. Then, when it's finished, we put back the tapes to scan them, draw the templates, vectorize these shapes and develop "flat" the decoration previously created on the profile drawing.

It is a long and meticulous work to propose the most qualitative kit possible. Each kit is developed according to the decor, which is why we only offer one or two designs per machine.

How did ASD come to offer racing suits tailor-made ?

When he switched to GP250, Arnaud Vincent asked me to accompany him on a winter test session with the manufacturer Fantic, in Italy. These tests were cancelled due to snow, and we took advantage of the trip to visit the craftsman who made his racing suits racing tailor-made.

This inspired me to fulfill a dream: to make a customized racing suit to go with my bike, just like the MotoGP riders! That's when this Italian craftsman, used to making racing suits for the world's top riders on behalf of major brands, suggested I make racing suits ASD.

More than a business venture, it was for me the opportunity to fulfill a dream: I've always had a passion for top-of-the-range helmets and racing suits , which to me are veritable objets d'art. To be able to offer everyone, from the passionate motorcyclist to the GP racer, high quality racing suits designed by myself and manufactured tailor-made by the best craftsmen, was a real dream. A dream come true.

We've seen racing suits ASD on world championship podiums...

ASD has indeed accompanied two excellent riders. In 2011, Florian Marino wore a racing suit ASD for his first season in the World Supersport Championship with the Honda Ten Kate team.

In 2013, he took his first podium, at Monza, before finishing^3rd in the 2014 championship, with numerous podiums to his name and a few wild cards in Moto2 GP at Forward Racing. That same year, ASD equipped Miguel Oliveira in Moto3 GP, who gave ASD its first Grand Prix podium at Assen on the Mahindra.

We don't equip riders anymore, because it's difficult to follow financially. But it remains great memories and it's always nice to say that we accompanied, at one time, one of the tenors of MotoGP today.

In addition to the riders, we have forged important partnerships with Karine Sliz, of Moto & Motards magazine, who has always been a loyal ASD ambassador, and with the High Side media, which uses graphics kits ASD for its track machines. We also worked with luxury watch brand Bell & Ross on a rather surprising partnership...

Why continue to manufacture racing suits ASD in Italy, when most of our competitors outsource to countries where labor costs are much lower?

QUALITY! Once again, offering racing suits ASD for sale is all about passion for the product: we want to offer the best. And, of course, we want to build ASD's reputation as a brand recognized for the quality of its products - not just its designs.

Customization also seems to be an important part of ASD.

Yes, we want our customers to be able to afford a product that is 100% theirs - even if we're not willing to do just anything. We play an advisory role, we are there to guide the customer, to accompany him to make the right choice of color, logo positioning...

That's why we don't offer a 100% personal design for our graphics kits. We offer it for our combinations, but always with an accompaniment in order to fulfill a double objective: satisfy the customer and cultivate the ASD brand image.

ASD offers today a wide range of graphics kits for sport bikes. When will roadsters, trails and scooters be available?

The competition, the track, the racing world, it is clearly our DNA. That's why we don't offer graphics kit for off-road machines. But we have indeed planned to expand our range in the coming years with graphics kits for some roadsters and trails.

What about cars? Bicycles? Go-karts?

We have made specific kits for Ferrari, for some karts... But before growing, you have to structure yourself. This is what we are doing.

What are ASD's short and long term ambitions?

Our aim is to become the leader in graphics kits for sport bikes, before opening up to other motorcycle categories and disciplines. Our ultimate goal is to become THE specialist in quality custom equipment.