Richez, largely a self-taught man, had his formal training at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Mons, Belgium. After WW2, he started his own studio in Brussels where he mostly worked for advertising but also on cultural posters, logos and exhibitions. His reputation was made with the poster and booklet Bâtir le monde pour l’homme for the 1958 Brussels Expo. He created the overall design concept for the Kinshasa International Fair in 1969. Besides the fact that Richez was a gifted designer, he was also an excellent draughtsman and an experimental photographer. In 1973 he was chosen as one of the 40 most original artists in experimental photography by Time-Life in their Photography Annual. He wrote two books: Graphic Art Applied to Communication (1964) and Texts and Pretexts: 25 Years of Reflecting on Graphic Design (1980). In 1967 he became vice-president of Icograda and from 1972–76 of AGI, where he indefatigably ‘preached’ ethics and professional integrity.