Hermann Zapf is one of the most prominent type designers of the 20th century. He is best known for designing typefaces such as Palatino, Optima and Zapfino. Back in 1967, Hallmark Cards commissioned an educational film which documented Zapf’s techniques on type design and calligraphy. The purpose of this insightful film was to introduce aspiring calligraphers and art students to the art of calligraphy. Watch it in its entirety as you don’t get to see often this type of educational material by this master of the trade.
Mr. Zapf is a self taught typeface designer. It was during an exhibition in 1935 in honor of Rudolf Koch, when he got interested in calligraphy, so he purchased two books which introduced him to the art of calligraphy. Later he developed his craft with intensive periods of study at the Nuremberg City Library.
During his military service Mr. Zapf was placed in the cartography unit and due to his talent and his excellent eyesight on writing small size letters without using a magnifying glass he was never transferred to another unit. After the war Mr. Zapf moved to Frankfurt where the Stempel type foundry offered him a position as artistic head of the printshop. It is there where he created his first masterpieces Palatino and Optima. Sure Hermann Zapf’s life and work is a very important case of study for all us younger designers.
A few months ago we visited the The Berlin Type Museum which preserves and exhibits a number of typographic signs rescued from old times. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Neon Museum offers a glimpse at the most treasured and famous signs of Las Vegas that was. Located on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 3-acre lot known also as the Neon Graveyard or Boneyard, houses more than 150 historic, non-restored signs from the Caesars Palace, Binions Horsehoe, Golden Nugget, Silver Slipper and most recently the Stardust. The Museum is not currently open for general admission and visits of the collection are possible via tours by advance appointment only. The non-profit cultural organization that runs the museum is in the process of building a permanent facility which will be used as its visitor’s center. They are restoring the historic La Concha Motel lobby which has a unique curvilinear design created by the famous African-American architect Paul Revere Williams.
Our summer destination was Budapest the capital of Hungary, one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe with a flavor of art deco architecture. We paid a visit to the Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) which is inside the palace of Budapest. One of the permanent exhibitions includes “Budapest in the Modern Age” which highlights the birth and development of Budapest. Guests may explore the city and how it came to be, its economy, the ephemeral life of its citizens and its officers. A large section of the exhibition revolves around the art of typography, with newspapers, posters, contracts, even citizen lists of the past centuries. A well organized exhibition which gives you an insight about the typographic culture of Budapest.
from top to bottom:
Royal announcement (1774)
Poster of the Hungarian millennium (1896)
Regulations for the militia (1880)
Theate program for “Arpad’s Awakening” act (1837)
Did you ever wonder what happens to all these signs we see around our cities, after they are taken down? Well, there you have it! The Buchstabenmuseum (German for Museum of Letters) started rescuing typographic icons of our time since May 2005 and created a collection of interesting typographic objects and letters from all over Berlin and beyond. If it happens to be in Berlin pay a visit to the museum (by appointment only).
A new documentary film called “Typeface” by the independent company Kartemquin Films, is coming out in November. It focuses on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum which is located at the premises of the old Hamilton wood type company, on Lake Michigan 90 minutes north of Milwaukee. This is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. With 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles and sizes of patterns, Hamilton’s collection is one of the premier wood type collections in the world. The film documents traditional printmaking and wood type workshops which are held at the museum. Hamilton comes alive once a month, as international artists meet retired craftsmen and together they revisit traditional techniques under the instruction of leading artists such as Stacey Stern, a printing instructor at Columbia College. The museum’s existence is critical to the worldwide design community who are passionate about the history of their craft and its function in the contemporary field.
A sneak preview is scheduled for November 6. Go see it!
