Letterform Archive - tables of pure delight

Murray GM November 26, 2017

I'm often visiting the Letterform Archive just after they've put on a visit for this or that design team or artist or historian. So I get to see the 'table' that's been put together for them. Sometimes these reflect specific themes or ideas the visitor has requested other times it's more of a 'greatest hits' or simply reflects what the person running the session loves the most.

Last time I was there, the table was a particularly eclectic and fascinating collection of items.

First things to catch my eye were the editions of Design and Paper, and especially this from Ladislav Sutnar about catalogue design.

Then I spotted the visual sumptuousness of the city books from Red Fox Press. These beautiful objects are a real feast for the senses. Fantastic use of materials, combined with glorious screen printed colour make them true objects of desire. The three shown are Tokyo, Berlin and Paris and each uses a different visual vernacular from the cities as the creative approach. The Berlin book is from 2014/15 and is printed on Korean cattle feed bags by the design pair Franticham (FRANCIS VAN MAELE & ANTIC-HAM).

As I continued to make my way around the table I started to see more and more combinatorial design artefacts, including Queneau's Cent mille milliards de poèmes and 'the book that's could be made'— Jonathan Safran Foer's Tree of Codes as well as many other experimental formats. There were a few personal favourites, like the semaphore cover of Typografische Monatsblätter and this beautiful typographic deconstruction on trace.

But these incredible re-imaginings of classic fairy tales by Warja Lavater from Adrien Maeght were a wonderful surprise. Each one reworks a fairy tale through illustration, half visualisation, half illustrative storytelling. These first 2 pics below are from Little Red Riding Hood and even include a legend - wonderful idea and there's a box set to boot!

Wonderful way to spend the end of the day. And of course there were plenty of historical letterforms out too.

Enquire within - a designer's art

Murray GM January 30, 2015

This wonderful little design artefact was created by the late, great Ian Noble. It's self published and I believe was created for his Masters work at Brighton. Part puzzle and part intellectual exercise - it's a lovely design object. One of the things I love about it is its visual patina. It's only a two colour print job but through the use of found ephemera, rubber stamps and stickers it manufactures a rich and intriguing look and feel. Its very design stimulates the reader to enquire, to investigate what it is all about. Very much a labour of love, with each copy having a uniqueness through the many hand crafted elements. This is one of 150 copies.

I was an undergrad when I first met Ian and was lucky enough to have him as a tutor. He opened my mind to many ideas, from 'pataphysics to the necessity for designers to take responsibility for their work, not just the design but it's also it's effect on the world. He taught the importance of ethics in design and how the things we create always have an agenda and an influence - there are always politicised, whether we accept it or not. Sadly, Ian passed away two years ago this January, but I'm sure for everyone that he touched his influence is still very much at play and the design world is a better place because of it.

A myriad of gifts hidden between the pages

Murray GM January 3, 2013

Just got hold of Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek and it's full of wonderful little insights into people's book lives. These wonderful juxtapositions between the book and bookmark are fascinating, whether it's the subject or context each creates it's own narrative. The book is based on his blog ( http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com/ ) and is a neatly put together collection. I like the blog and it make sense to deliver these 'finds' in that format but having them collected in the book is a lot more satisfying as it adds a sense of artefact and history.

There's also some loverly advertising ephemera dotted throughout the book.