Simon Hardeveld was born in Cannes, France, in 1949. His mother was French and his father was Dutch. 1993, he visited New Orleans for Mardi Gras and ended up making it his permanent home.

He then found a job at a shop called Bush Antiques where he would repair French furniture. There he would take scrap wood and paint signs of food he was cooking at the time. He would place them in the restaurant he worked at in Metairie.

In 2010, a local New Orleans TV station commissioned Simon to design the set of one of their evening pieces after the vice president of the station ate at a restaurant that displays Simon's work. He considers that as his claim to fame. Simon has also completed a multitude of other commercial signage for the businesses around him. His operation is low-tech but even with this his signs are found everywhere in the city and almost instantly recognized. On August 20, 2016 he got a book published about his life and art called "Simon of New Orleans.” He draws inspiration from people he meets in New Orleans.