Letterform Archive - an eclectic sample

Murray GM January 25, 2017

One of the things I love most about visiting the Letterform Archive is the impromptu discovery of awesome bits of design. You can book a research session with them and get a focussed deep dive into a particular subject area, but as a volunteer you just turn up and get stuck in. At one of my sessions Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko from Emigré had just sent over a batch of posters and printed paraphernalia. Letterform Archive already has Emigré's archive including the digital development of the type faces, but this was a stack of items that they had been sent (by the looks of it back in the '90s). It was an amazing flashback to my time at art school. Here's a selection from the stack that includes the work of (amongst others) The Designers Republic, Phil Baines and Graphic Thought Facility. I particularly love the poster for The Residents gig in Zurich, not sure of the designer, Homer Flynn maybe?

Although the eclectic nature of the archive is being filtered heavily through the things I love, it's still amazingly diverse. Here's a bunch of shots that include Raymond Queneau's Exercices de Style (see my copy here) and Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes, dada letter art, type specimens and a few pics from the many, many design journals they have.

And this wonderful type specimen with the annotation in pencil explaining that the ragged top is the result of mice.

If you want to stay up to date with what the have join their 'Just in' mailing list: https://letterformarchive.org/this-just-in

A small selection from Letterform Archive's Instagram feed.

Letterform Archive - SF's graphic design treasure trove

Murray GM January 18, 2017

For the past few months I've been visiting and volunteering at the Letterform Archive in San Francisco. It's a collection of over 30,000 lettering, typographic, calligraphic and graphic design related items. From stone artefacts and illuminated manuscripts through to digital type files, it's a full on treasure trove for any graphic designer or type fan. I found out about the archive after seeing some wonderful posts on their Instagram account. It's an incredible resource, run by a wonderful group of very knowledgeable people.

So with that said, I've decided to break with Paperpost tradition. Up until now everything on PaperPosts has been from my 'archive', but since I'm getting to see so many great items I'm going to start posting the things I find at the Letterform Archive. It's full of amazing pieces, including original copies of both the Depero Bolted book and the Futurist Tin book. Every time I visit I find beautiful and inspiring things that I simply can't help grabbing a pic of. Expect Letterform Archive posts to become a regular thing.

My first volunteering session was mostly spent book plating historical type specimen and printers' books from the Jan Tholenaar collection (which the book Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles by Taschen was based on). Here are a bunch of things that caught my eye. The dates and modernity of some of the type really shocked me as most of these are between 1760 and 1880. First up here are some pages from 1768:

Next up are these from 1855. The ink is so heavy on some of these that it's coming through on the reverse. And check out the massive E and the foldout - gorgeous.

Here are a bunch of other items that caught my eye, including this great colour guide from 'Mäser's Normal-farben für die graphischen Gewerbe':

And finally (for now at least) this beauty, 'Holzschriften':

The wonderfully poetic Science of the Secondary

Murray GM January 17, 2016

Recently I was given this bumper bundle of the amazing Science of the Secondary, an atlas of things not yet discovered from Atelier HOKO and I've just spent a very rainy Sunday in SF devouring each of them. I have the first six issues and each one tackles a single object. They are beautifully indulgent and poetic design exercises. From the stock to the print quality, they have a wonderful tonality that perfectly balances the way each topic is handled.

The six issues are: Apple, Cup, Clock, Window, Door, Pipe.

Here are a few shots of the spreads. But it's more than the wonderful design, it's the tone of the content and the depth at which each idea is explored that makes them so exceptional. Truly wonderful, much thanks to Donald Farmer for sharing them with me.

Included along with the last three issues was Another Mad Afternoon at Home. This is a pack of 20 postcards or "instructions" for things to do and then send back to Atelier HOKO. My 20 (a random selection from 60 created) include the gems (an adults rainy day playbook):

#06 Open a window and let this card fall out of it. Describe its flight
#22 Without permission, touch a stranger's door for an extended period of time
#50 Press your ear against an exposed pipe. Listen. Imitate sound.

Should make for a loverly mail art piece when they collate the returned postcards.

2018 Update - here’s issue 9; The plate

Wild Forever by Gary Taxali

Murray GM December 30, 2015

I've been toying with getting a Gary Taxali print for a long time, no idea what held me back. Anyway I finally grabbed Wild Forever for Katrina for Christmas as it fits her perfectly.

The illustration was originally commissioned by The New York Times' for a tribute to the great Maurice Sendak, upon his death in 2012. It's a fantastic print, large (19.3″ x 24″), richly coloured and will look stunning on the wall (alas we will need to find a new home with enough walls first).

Up until now the only other Taxali piece we had was a very small postcard and catalogue from his 300 show (I posted the card and cover back in 2010). I think what I love the most about his work is the layering and texture. All the rubber stamp, overprinting and notation really hits the spot for me, especially when combined with the commercial colours and cartooning.

Here's a little more from the 300 catalogue:

Check out his work here: http://www.garytaxali.com/

Beautiful illustrations by Moonassi for Maison Kitsuné

Murray GM December 28, 2015

Last year I bought a wonderful t-shirt by Maison Kitsuné. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It's from Kitsuné's K.I.M collection and has a marvellous fox/woman illustration on the front by the Korean artist Moonassi (Daehyun Kim). However, Santa brought me a fabulous gift this year, three limited edition prints from the Kitsuné collection by Moonassi. Can't wait to get these framed!

Moonassi for Kitsuné 1

Moonassi for Kitsuné 2

Moonassi for Kitsuné 3

More about the Kitsuné collection here (on Bustle) and here (Maison Kitsuné)

Moonassi's website