What headlines were made of // Wooden Type

(super dirty BEFORE picture)

This morning I begun cleaning off the layers of dust from my wooden letters bought from a defunct print shop in a nearby town. It closed doors almost two years ago after having been open roughly 100 years. When I had first started looking for a press, I had initially gone there to see if there was anything to be had. On that visit I noticed cases of wooden letters pretty much forgotten. Six months later I made another trip back.

During my visit the ex-printer shared a piece of the print shop’s history. He opened up one of the old local newspapers he had put away in a protective cover dating back to 1924. What stood out most to me was the fantastic handset non standard type used for headlines. Nothing classic or identifiable about the font; it was ballooned and pinched tight at the end to create its serifs like a bouncing elephant with tiny feet. Flipping through the pages, he showed me an advertisement for the print shop similar to their ironwork signage still hanging under the arcades of the main street. Then the book was closed and I was shown the cases of wooden type for sell.

(super clean AFTER picture)

Back at home wiping off grunge, I noticed fonts with accents (curious to an American girl) and letters like j, k and y that were much newer since they aren’t formally part of the Italian alphabet system, but have been brought into usage in very recent decades as these letters are too.

Letterpress Basics: Composure On A Stick

So the cool thing about the basics to hand setting type is it requires composure (meaning patience and organization) and, in my opinion, helps one appreciate the craft of letterpress that much more. Here are some of what you need to get started and a simple visual guide on how to hold your composing stick before you compose your first lines of type.

AT MY LETTERPRESS WORKSHOP IN PARIS WITH THOMAS GRAVEMAKER
LEARNING THE BASICS

The shingle best thing about Austria

Recently we had the chance to stop at some friends' house in western Austria coming back from picking up my press. Strewn along the valleys of Switzerland and Austria were wooden chalets with steep pointed roofs. Historically, these affectionate buildings were built with economy and function in mind to keep warm during the alpine winters, and used seasonally as huts by cow herders to make food products like milk and cheese.

It was a pure inspirational color pallet of bright but subdued weather worn window frames and shutters against shingled exteriors. What a pleasant surprise to also find many restored buildings or new homes reflecting traditions of the past but with modern interpretations. Cafe Cabako was one of those really cool buildings with not just coffee in mind, but also bakery and practice music room upstairs that our architect friend Christian had a hand in. Definitely and exactly what I was looking for in terms of direction on designing of my own home studio...

Osmosis :: Erik Spiekermann

Erik Spiekermann - Putting Back the Face into Typeface from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Osmosis: // What do Spiekermann, Hobo and Schwinn have in common?

I stumbled upon this video on Erik Spiekermann while doing research on my own German lever press and its origins (and it seems pretty conclusive that it's a Hohner Hobo). Hobo bringing to mind the 1960's Schwinn bike "Slick Chick" re-painted in a VW Moon Silver after I restored it. Hohner Hobo also being a counterpart to the American C&P press. That's what I got so far.

Other designer's work, travel and reading prove to be Spiekermann's greatest sources of inspiration and then re-interpreted into his own work. He goes on to say that designers are influencing each other's work and are tremendously "in tune" and speak "visual dialects". Metaphorical references are made between words and music--space and rhythm, "and just as in music, that makes it exciting!" he says, and I wholeheartedly agree.

His work includes transforming the BVG (Berlin transit passenger communication system) and Corporate Identity systems type Audi, Nokia and AT&T. I was most struck in the interview by his distinction between advertising agencies primary focus and function on the campaign compared to that of a designer's focus on communication

(openess-accessibilty-clarity). Insomma, we need a better educated culture of clients who aren't just interested in the "wow" factor.

Words, he believes, fuction as signs and proliferators of knowledge. He took for instance the internet encouraging people to read more than ever in our history. Varrying cultures of languge (be it internet, i-pad, twitter, etc...) continue to grow. His message was a positive and inspirational one that we can do things that have a profound change on the people we live with and the community we live in through visual culture. What a way to start the weekend...

My pretty little black press

So, I'm back and have been back for a few days. I was so anxious to get the remainder of my supplies (more to come) and still, quite honestly, roaming the Austrian Alps in my mind (those cows and not to mention awesome architecture which left me awe struck) I had yet to leave a post.

And so, I got it. I got my pretty little black press. And she's waiting there for me to try her on. But, and as I was saying, suppliers are far and in between here. But, damn if I'm not that irksome American girl... and honestly, today is like no other day, and all is well that ends well.

Pictures sent after restoration: Mechanic's workshop in Saarland, Germany

Passione [pas-sió-ne]

So, Easter weekend has arrived and I'm off to trample through four countries before coming back Easter Monday with the "Black Corsair". Funny, if not extreme, what passion makes one do. Happy Easter!