Carl Johan De Geer was born in 1938 in Montreal, Canada, but has since 1951 lived in Stockholm. Between 1959–63, he studied graphic design at Konstfack in Stockholm. Carl Johan de Geer also worked as a textile designer and founded the design group Grupp 10. Together with Håkan Alexandersson, he had a film production company for 20 years and produced, among other things, the legendary children's program Tårtan. Since his debut in the early 1960s, Carl Johan De Geer has been a prominent figure in Swedish cultural life.