ABOUT

letterspace is platform situated in Amsterdam, and as of 2018 is hosting a monthly series of lectures about experi­mentation, innovation and research in type.
As hosts, we are interested in expanding more traditional definitions of type (design) established within education programmes and institutions. We are excited to welcome a lively and diverse group of artists, designers and researchers to explore type happening in Amsterdam.

The lectures are open to the public and free. Experts, non-experts, type enthusiasts, writers, and design students might be especially interested in joining.

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Supported by:

Retype Foundry
#45

17. Apr 2024

19:00–21:00 (start 19:30) at de Lange Adem

WAYS OF WRITING

TARIQ HEIJBOER (SILLY TYPE FOUNDRY), FRANÇOIS DEY (ARTIST)

Type Designer Adrian Frutiger once said “If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape.” While this may be a generally accepted wisdom applied to text typefaces, what if one deliberately decides to make the “spoon” memorable? Type can be more than just a tool, it can question our ways of communication, it can create meaning from within. In the lecture “Ways of Writing,” Tariq Heijboer and François Dey will explore strange, meaningful and sometimes wrong approaches to type.

Silly Type Foundry is an initiative of graphic designer Tariq Heijboer, which aims to share unusual and strange typographic projects with a spontaneous character. Starting from Tariq’s own fascination for mistakes within systems of communication, language and alphabets, Silly Type Foundry collects and displays fonts of various makers related to this interest. The types demonstrate an interplay between image and type, the visual and verbal. Most projects at the Silly Type Foundry were initially designed for a specific (art) project and are now revisited and made accessible as a usable font. Tariq Heijboer is based in Amsterdam and studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (NL) and Pratt Institute (US).

François Dey performs experiments on (im)possibility of collaborations. He uses improvisations and forms of documentation to reflect on how situations and actions can feed each other and also affect our perspective. François graduated from the VAV department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and was a fellow at the Jan van Eyck Academie. He is currently working on a book recollecting a residency at Malévoz Quartier Culturel. This project rounds out his participation as a researcher at the LAPS (Lectoraat Art in Public Space) of the Rietveld Academie.

Ways of Writing will present two very personal associations and understandings of the system of the alphabet. Tariq Heijboer will explain his personal interest in typography and the idea behind Silly Type Foundry (STF). François Dey will talk about one of the typefaces at STF, which he created during shared workshops with patients at a psychiatric hospital in Monthey, Switzerland. Furthermore, he will elaborate on the context in which the typeface was made and why this is important to his work.

RSVP at eventbrite

Hosted at:
De Lange Adem
Ruyschstraat 295,
1091 DX Amsterdam

Sponsored by:

Retype Foundry
#44

27. Mar 2024

19:00–21:00 at de Lange Adem

The Emoji Story

DOCUMENTARY

Our new venue ”de Lange Adem” used to be an independent cinema. Therefore it seems more than appropriate to screen a movie, that we had not been able to present at its release date, during the pandemic. At our third instalment #😉 we already presented three projects, that focused on Emoji and icons as a replacement of language.
After the movie, we are looking forward to discuss some questions with you. Is Emoji evolving into a real language or how many personalities and things do we have to add to the collection to make Emoji fully inclusive?

The rapid rise 📈 of emoji (Japanese for “picture character”) is a global 🌍 phenomenon without precedent. Their widespread use and ability to convey complex messages have not only cemented emoji’s place as an emerging digital language 🗣, but prompted difficult questions 🤔 about the creation of a language and digital communication’s fraught ties 😣 to identity and inclusion. In THE EMOJI STORY, Directors Martha Shane and Ian Cheney lead viewers 👀 on a deep dive into the ever evolving world of picture characters, from their humble beginnings in Japan 🇯🇵 to mobile keyboards 📱 the world 🌎 over, and shed fresh light 💡 on the private consortium 👥 that approves new emoji offerings and the individuals fighting ✊ to make the language more representative of its billions of users.

We like to thank the co-producer Jennifer 8 Lee, author of Hanmoji, for allowing us to screen this documentary.

#43

28. Feb 2024

19:00–21:00 at de Lange Adem

HELENA H + KASPER Q

TYPOGRAPHIC PREJUDICE & BIAS

Since the conception of letterspace, we’ve been reaching out to potential speakers to talk about political matters and gender inequalities in typography and type design. Not one but two recent graduates of GDA Arnhem, Helena Hesselink and Kasper Quaink, explored these topics in their theses, and we’re thrilled to have them share their work. Their lectures will explore the psychological, societal and habitual effects bias has on typography as well as gender imbalance and visual stereotypes in type design.

Helena Hesselink is a graphic designer, textile maker, color and shape enthousiast, who graduated from graphic design ArtEZ University of Arts in Arnhem, where she is based since. She did a minor in textile design at LUCA Ghent (2021), HKU graphic design (2019). Currently she is working as a workshop assistant at ArtEZ and runs a freelance design practice. She has a strong affinity for various tools and is eager to learn any form in which her creative mind can be displayed.

Kasper Quaink is a graphic/type designer with fascinations for Book Design, Typographical Research, Visual Research, Experimental Workshops and Tool Making. Kasper is based in Arnhem, where he runs his own freelance practice, and is also part of Part of K.C ⇄ Q a design duo, founded in 2023, with K.Chen (Kuan-Ting Chen). The collaboration focuses on the intersection of experimental typography and community, by organising analogue-based typographical workshops with diverse materials and methods, exploring the potential of type alongside their participants. Kasper is currently doing an apprenticeship in Amsterdam with a type-designer and working on various self-initiated typefaces.

The two speakers share a common enthusiasm for tool- and community-building. During their studies in graphic design at ArtEZ, both were involved with TypeClub 530, a student initiated type collective hosting experimental typography workshops for anyone interested in type.

This lecture stems from the theses written by Helena Hesselink and Kasper Quaink during their graduation year and their overlapping interest in discovering prejudices in typography, allowed for more dialogue and exploration during the writing process. By request of letterspace, the texts have been formatted into a lecture format and the speakers will open up the discussion about the societal and habitual effects bias has on typography and how gender imbalances and visual stereotypes exist in type design.

Sponsored by:

Retype Foundry
#42

24. Jan 2024

19:00–21:00 at De Lange Adem

Type Quiz

A TYPOGRAPHIC PUB QUIZ

To inaugurate our new season of lectures, we thought we’d mix things up with a night of trivia. Inspired by the Typostsammtisch quiz in Berlin, letterspace will be hosting a typographic quiz night, moderated by design educator and life-long trivia lover, Annie Goodner. Please join us for a fun evening of playful competition and a chance to win some great prizes. As usual, we will serve you drinks and snacks and are looking forward to see you again after a half-year hiatus.

To increase your chances of trivia success, we recommend you to look through our website, letterspace.amsterdam, as the first half of questions will be dedicated to our past events. The second half of the evening will encompass general type, typographic and design trivia.

Annie Goodner is a writer, critic and educator living in Amsterdam. She teaches design theory and writing in the department of graphic design at ArtEZ Arnhem. Her writing has appeared in Artforum, Mousse, e-flux education, among others. In 2023 she co-founded the criticism platform Tangents, focused on writing about the Dutch art scene.

#41

12. Jul 2023

19:00—21:00 at Oedipus Brewing

VICTOR BRANGOLO

OEDIPUS ALPHABET UNIVERSE

Letterspace will end its season with a festive launch of the Oedipus Alphabet Universe. In the last year, Victor Brangolo – Head of Colors at Oedipus Brewing — has been digitizing his brush lettering into a variable font. With the assistance of Edgar Walthert, the letters have come to life and might even start mutating in a future state.
Join us for a hot summer evening with delicious craft beers, eclectic tunes by DJ Olaf and a colorful presentation.

Victor Brangolo is the Head of Colors at Oedipus Brewing, creating its brand identity and visual world. His work for Oedipus always begins with painting and drawing, where colors, energy, and symbols play a big role in producing a unified visual language. Aside from his design work, he paints and draws, exploring colors, painting techniques and other topics that matter to him.
Victor was born and raised in Paris, before he moved to Amsterdam to study graphic design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. He has worked as an art director for a broad range of clients and agencies while also continually working on Oedipus-related projects that developed his unique visual approach to branding.

Victor’s hand-painted illustrations and letters are the unique part of the Oedipus identity and its ever-growing portfolio. Creating a typeface as a design tool allowed the identity to grow beyond its existing applications and empowered third parties to design within established guidelines. Victor will present the design process of the typeface, its unconventional variable fun-axis, and will share future developments. Victor will also share his larger work at Oedipus Brewing and parts of his artistic practice.
We will learn about the design process, the unconventional variable fun-axis and have an outlook whereto the Universe will expand in the future.

Hosted at:
Oedipus Brewing B.V.
Gedempt Hamerkanaal 85
1021 KP Amsterdam

#40

23. Jun 2023

19:00–21:00 at GWA

Cecilia del Castillo Daza

MEXICAN BLACKLETTER AND BEYOND

We count ourselves lucky that Cecilia del Castillo Daza is spending time in Amsterdam at the moment for an Erasmus exchange. Her research topic delves into a subject we had some prior knowledge of, but that we are eager to learn more about.
How come blackletters are popular in Mexican street culture and developed their own particular stylistics? Cecilia will also present two of her typefaces; Valedora that is inspired by her research and combines the Mexican Blackletter with Rotunda Gothic calligraphy and a new project developed during her time in Amsterdam.

Cecilia del Castillo is a Type Designer and Calligrapher graduated with a Master in Advanced Typography at EINA in Barcelona. She also obtained a diploma with distinction from TypeParis, in France, and a Diploma from Tipo G, Escuela de Tipografía de Barcelona. Cecilia first discovered her passion for letters by learning Calligraphy in Barcelona, a city that has opened its doors to her and has been her home for the last years.
Her life and efforts have been focused on learning and developing this craft. Her work as a Type Designer is strongly linked to her roots and her passion for Calligraphy.
Mexico is always present: its richness and its colors. Letters are always at the heart of her work, either to tell a story or to become one with the image.
She is currently part of the Mexican Type Foundry Typemade located in Monterrey Mexico.

In this lecture, Cecilia is going to show 2 projects which are close to her heart. Both show in detail the process of calligraphic exploration behind them and the reinterpretation of those calligraphic shapes to a typographic system.
The first one is Valedora, a display typeface inspired by street signs of “Mexican Blackletter” and influenced by Rotunda Gothic calligraphy.
And the second one is a project in Collaboration with Sabina Chipară during an Erasmus exchange in Amsterdam, a typeface that takes its inspiration from letterforms found on a Dwiggins cover from 1937, combined with personal calligraphic explorations and Sabina’s great eye and experience to translate those shapes in an accurate midpoint between straight and precise shapes and gestural expressiveness.

Thanks to our generous host:

GWA NDSM Print
NDSM plein 27
1033 WC Amsterdam

please RSVP with eventbrite
#🚀

19. May 2023

19:00–21:00 at GWA

BLAST

FOUNDRY LAUNCH

With lots of joy, we welcome back our former studio-mate and co-founder Diana Ovezea and her colleagues Barbara Bigosińska and Rafał Buchner.
The three will launch their long anticipated foundry, that has been publishing their typefaces through platforms like Future Fonts and I Love Typography. Next to presenting the website and the process of establishing a company, they will also show some recent work they have been doing in the service of other foundries and big design companies.
Make sure to be there, it will be a Blast!

Blast Foundry is the collaboration of three individual type designers that decided that they would be stronger together, as a team. Barbara is the typography queen, Rafał is the coding wizard, and Diana is the eagle eyes. With their powers combined they can cater to the font and tool development needs of design studios and other type foundries. They take over production, coding, and font engineering jobs from foundries like CoType Foundry, Socio Type, Indian Type Foundry, and Typotheque. Amongst the most notable collaborations on custom typeface designs is their ongoing partnership with Pentagram New York, together with whom they designed a custom handwritten typeface for Deloitte Insights, a custom headline typeface for the well-known street paper Big Issue in the UK, as well as the opening credits typefaces for the shows Extraordinary (Disney+), Landscapers (HBO), and The Responder (BBC One). The Blast Foundry members also flex their creative muscles and design their own fonts. The more experimental design are available at Future Fonts, while the more commercial designs will be available for sale on their website soon.

In their lecture, the Blast Foundry team will talk us through their creative process using examples of work from the last few years. Many of these projects have been under wraps until now, so you might be getting a sneak peak at never before seen designs. The team will show a selection of custom typeface projects, tool development, and will also showcase their own retail fonts. If all goes well, the Blast Foundry website is weeks away from release and you’ll be the first ones to see it.

#38

14. Apr 2023

19:00–21:00 at GWA

Thom Niessink

DIGITAL CRAFTSMAN

With the emergence of spring that brings colour and sunshine into our lives, our next speaker could not be a better fit. Thom Niessink is known for his excellent lettering skill, that he autodidactically acquired next to his education as a graphic designer. Next to an online portfolio and instagram, he publishes his work in a colourful zine called Some Of My Work, printed on newsprint paper.
While his design process is mainly digital, we are happy to be back at Grafisch Werkplaats Amsterdam, where a lot of the history, that Thom is inspired by can be seen and hands-on experienced.

Thom Niessink is a Dutch graphic designer focused on lettering, typedesign and illustration. After graduating from Mediacollege Amsterdam in 2013 he worked as a graphic designer at various companies and agencies. Throughout his career he developed a true passion for typography and custom lettering. Influenced by other typedesigners and lettering artists he sharpened his skills and found his own style. He is inspired by vintage magazines, signs and postcards from the 50’s and 60’s. Despite the vintage inspiration, his way of working is almost completely digital, using the iPad as a digital sketchbook. Combining retro and contemporary letterforms with subtle paper textures and color pallets he creates an appealing composition with a consistent typographic rhythm.

In his lettering lecture Thom will showcase his way of drawing letters and experimenting with the compositions. He will highlight key elements of the design choices and how to combine individual styles with client demands to create an appealing typographic visual. By presenting the creative process of some personal and client projects he will deep dive into the steps from first sketches to final artwork.

Thanks to our generous host:

GWA NDSM Print
NDSM plein 27
1033 WC Amsterdam

please RSVP with eventbrite
#37

22. Mar 2023

19:00-21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

STUDIO LAUCKE SIEBEIN

ZTF – ZEEBURG TYPEFOUNDRY

A letter arriving at our former studio address at Zeeburgerpad 51, gave us the lead to the Zeeburg Typefoundry. What are the odds, that at our new type focussed studio – letterspace – where we started a lecture series on type, another type foundry had been situated?
Reaching out to the designers behind this manufacture, we learned, that ZTF was still a hidden part of Studio Lauke Siebein, that it was not so much a foundry but rather a private collection of custom and project-applied typefaces. We are really excited to bring Johanna Siebein and Dirk Laucke back to the Zeeburgerpad and present this rich bounty of playful typefaces to a wider public.

Laucke Siebein is the designers duo Dirk Laucke and ­Johanna Siebein based in Amsterdam and in Offenbach am Main, formerly in Berlin. It offers a wide range of expertise in the field of communication and the implementation of high-quality design concepts. Their commissions range in the field of arts and culture, architecture, institutions, and color industry with a intermedial outcome.
Dirk has studied visual communication at at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) before moving to Amsterdam in 1995 and setting up his own studio. Johanna has studied communication design at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar, Saarbrücken, and at the AKI in Enschede. They first met in 2006 and their permanent cooperation has been going on since 2009. Since 2022 Johanna is professor for Typography/Type Design at Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main.
Laucke Siebein’s concepts and designs have been awarded with international design prizes and have been published widely. Both regularly teach at art academies and give lectures on their work around Europe.

ZTF sounds like a rather technical undertaking but is in fact the experimental playground for the studio’s custom fonts. Named after the street of a former studio location, the Zeeburg Typefoundry stays invisible to the public but is a very important tool for Dirk and Johanna as it internally standardizes their type designs for their commissions and self-initiated project. This is not a launch event. Please note, the typefaces are not for sale, they are sold already to their one time use.
Through a multitude of examples, Dirk and Johanna will trace individual strategies to recurring questions. As they strive for visual translations of their concepts that create value and encourage they are motivated to look for the unexpected. Their most important tool is good design – often expressed through a symbiosis of custom type design with the conceptual approach of the project. It is never about irrelevant pleasure or the fulfillment of schematic beauty. Because they trust their audience in being creative and aesthetically oriented, they make clear statements and offer space for individual perspectives and experiences. Being part of German and Dutch design culture, their collaboration results in a stimulating mix of rationality and spontaneity.

Studio Lauke Siebein on Instagram

#36

15. Feb 2023

19:00-21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

Olga Umpeleva

BEYOND CYRILLIC

After five years of lectures, it is about time to expand our focus on Cyrillic letters. With Olga Umpeleva, we not just have a native designer but someone that likes to explore untrodden paths and is now working for a renowned foundry that left many traces in Amsterdam.
While we strongly oppose the brutal occupations and expansions of Russia, we don’t like the idea of boycotting an entire culture that goes way beyond this present war. On top of that, nearly 50 languages throughout parts of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia use Cyrillic as their official script.

Olga Umpeleva is a type designer from Russia, currently living in the Netherlands. Olga has completed the TypeMedia master program in 2020. Since then she has worked on various projects with many type and graphic design studios from different countries, publishing fonts on Google Fonts, MyFonts and Future Fonts. Olga is a designer of both Latin and Cyrillic letters, she likes to draw ‘out of the world’ display fonts, while keeping herself grounded with text typefaces. Now Olga partly works for Dinamo, as a freelance type designer and also on her own projects.

The lecture will start with her graduation project Noordenwind (later known as Westenwind), which didn’t have Cyrillic during TypeMedia. After graduation she worked on the Cyrillic character set and published the typeface on Future Fonts. But mostly her talk will focus on working on the Cyrillic extensions for Dinamo’s typefaces Gravity and Whyte. Olga will analyse other languages that use Cyrillic letters, how they differ from each other and from the Latin alphabet. Highlight complicated letters or differences in rhythm and texture. She will also show how being exposed to the difficulties of designing outside of ones comfort zone can be beneficial in the development as type designer.

#35

25. Jan 2023

19:00-21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

gebr.silvestri

EXPLORING RESTRAINT

Presenting a typographic agenda towards the end of last year, we will start this year with another calendar-based talk.
gebr.silvestri is a design studio located in Amsterdam since 1994. The two brothers of Swiss origin work as art directors and graphic designers in the second and third dimension, producing visual solutions in a wide area of media. Their projects range from brand identities, books, online, through products, to exhibition and set design.

Since 2006 the brothers have designed an annual calendar in the form of a poster with self-designed fonts inspired by assignments and collaborations from within their studio practice. This reflection on their own work has resulted in several letter concepts in recent years. Inspired by the basic geometric shapes and the Bauhaus together with systematic grid-based constructions, these letters explore unimaginable possibilities within rigid settings and experience them as 'open space'.

The calendars are usually executed using cutting edge or unusual printing techniques. They exist as a chance to explore new paths that might not be feasible within a commercial project. Because of the passion and interest in printing techniques, Silvestri seek out combinations that they are not familiar with or have always wanted to better understand.
The brothers started their study in two- and three-dimensional design at Schule für Gestaltung and Globus in St. Gallen, Switzerland, before studying graphic design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Both give workshops in graphic design, typography, and visual languages at Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Design Academy Eindhoven, St Joost Akademie in Breda, Ecole des Beaux Arts in Mulhouse.

#34

16. Nov 2022

19:00 – 21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

Felix Salut

TYPE OR SWIPE

The puzzle and typeface Galapagos, a system consisting of 9 elements, exploring all possible combinations to build letters and resulting in striking and extravagant typefaces. Do we know it? ☑️
We also knew, that it was created at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, but did not realise that Felix is still in Amsterdam and his studio is right around the corner from our venue and former address.
To corrected this mistake, we immediately went to play with his by now largest installation at Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen Noord-Holland. And we are really happy that he will present his exuberant Galapagos project and another very interesting topic in our next lecture.

Felix Salut is a typographer based in Amsterdam. He runs his own label and experimental design studio that bridges fields of typography, design, fashion and visual art. Recent clients and collaborations include: Dinamo Typefoundry, Sourcetype, COS, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Bauhaus Dessau in Germany, Edvard Munch Art Museum in Oslo, Rijksakademie Amsterdam, Roma Publications Amsterdam and The Poet Acts Magazine. Since graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy 2003 and escaping Werkplaats Typography in 2005, Felix Salut has freelanced for Mevis and van Deursen and developed his own studio. He founded his label Felix Salut in 2015. He has received awards and grants from the Walter Tiemann Prize, Mondriaanfonds, Stimuleringsfonds, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) and various Best Books Awards. Felix Salut is a regular lecturer in design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France.

In his lecture, Felix will address two very different projects. The first part will explore the history, present and future of the now-iconic Galapagos Game and the Galapagos typeface released with typefoundry ABC Dinamo.
The second part of the talk will present a live column recently written for typography platform Sourcetype on the topic of gesture input on technical devices. “Technology has rapidly increased the pace of our day-to-day life. Our most mundane tasks have been analyzed and streamlined for the sake of efficiency, and our methods of communication are no exception. With the help of emojis, lols, and memes we’re able to say more than ever using less. But what gets lost in translation when speed becomes our only measure of success? Typography of Speed is a regular column by Felix Salut that explores past, present, and future examples of language accelerated by technology.”

Secure a seat at eventbrite

#33

30. Oct 2022

16:00-18:30 at GWA

Johannis Force Team

MAAIKE VAN CRUCHTEN, MAARTEN BRINKMAN, KARLIJN KUIN, SILVER JOSEPH BOSCH

We have been looking forward to this presentations since we first saw this extraordinary project at GWA, which connects old and new modes of printing. The apprentice program — consisting of four people learning the craft of book printing with vintage machines — was assigned the creation of a typographical agenda.
Rather than picking some of the many typefaces at the print workshop, the group started 3D-printing punches. This was possible thanks to the expertise of their forward-thinking jeweller Karlijn working with contemporary techniques and equipment.
Right on time for the holiday season, we will be presented with the hurdles overcome, a live printing demonstration (16:00-16:30) and having fist dips on a 2023 agenda preorder.

A few months ago, four strangers met on the playground of Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam. Hungry for knowledge they have delved into ancient ways of printing. On their way they met Johannis. A hundred-year-old, always curious machine that wanted to try out some new techniques. So they fed him with 3D printed resin letters and some fancy slick designs, until he had become fat and content. At his silent presence, they continue on an experimental journey to make other machines happy too. At some point in the future they will reach the finish with heads full of knowledge while holding in their hands an amazingly done agenda. But at this moment they are very happy to share all that fascinating experience with others!

MAAIKE VAN CRUCHTEN

filmmaker, lecturer Interactive Design at the HVA, with a love for animation and infographics.

MAARTEN BRINKMAN

visual artist, visual arts teacher and a great past in the publishing profession.

KARLIJN KUIN

artist, art teacher and in possession of a 3D printer with which she makes jewellery, among other things.

SILVER JOSEPH BOSCH

graphic designer, visual artist and activist, with a great love for typography, bookbinding, animation and textiles – and everything that can bring those areas together.


Dress warm according to weather.
We will serve hot letter-soup around 18:00

Hosted at:

Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam
#32

23. Sep 2022

19:00 — 21:00 at GWA

David Millhouse

THE SCENIC ROUTE

Since his first appearance at letterspace, about a year ago, David Millhouse has been visiting our lectures regularly and has paid visit to our new studio at Lauriergracht. Meanwhile we have become increasingly curious about the conceptual methodology behind his typefaces. Details clearly derived from digital environments and restrictions, combined with classical typographical forms, result in an interesting hybrid of old and new.
We are happy to invite him to open our season at GWA and tell us more about his approach, goals and interests.

Born in Portsmouth and raised in the Winchester borough of England. Autonomous typographer David G. Millhouse studied the MATD of Reading in 2020. Prior to that, the MA in Sequential Illustration and Design at Brighton University in 2006. He lived in Europe for the past ten years. Pre-Brexit he established his typeface Caesura and wrote his manifesto ‘Reflection on Practice’ in 2019, whilst living in Brussels and voted Remain by post. Committed to print, D. G. M. self-publishes under Diagram Editions™. He spoke at Poetry International in Rotterdam, and held workshops at the Willem de Kooning and Rietveld Academies concerning the grid in societal policy. David G. Millhouse constructs all of his typefaces to his own regimentation, the Monylop Principle. Initially monospace for his pragmatic typeface Monylop (2020), the systems standard turned variable in 2022 with his typeface Isospin. In short, the principle promotes pattern-sequencing for steady processing, legibility and expansion. His austere attitude towards drawing vectors for clarity derives from a lifelong interest in wireless radio communications such as tuning short wave. He has an RSS channel and writes calligraphy daily in order to maintain harmony with human proportion and expression of hand. On scepticism towards generative scripts in the world of typefaces and as part of his continuing research David G. Millhouse will present his interpretation of a variable type prospect, free movement and monospace.

Secure your seat with a free ticket at eventbrite

Hosted at:

Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam

NDSM plein 27
1033 WC Amsterdam

#31

15. Jul 2022

19:00–21:00 at GWA

SILLY AMATEUR DON'T CRY

EXPERIMENTAL TYPE@RIETVELD

The publication “Silly Amateur Don’t Cry” showcases 50+ experimental typefaces made by students and alumni of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in a 96 page Swiss paperback. The graduates William Becker and Łukasz Matuszewski not just designed this collection but also interviewed former students about type design and amateurism. Gaile Prancku­naite, Our Polite Society and Dinamo give some insight into their practice and time studying at the academy.
After the book already has been officially launched at Fanfare, we like to look at it in more debt and zoom in on some designers.

Łukasz Matuszewski

Łukasz Matuszewski (1994, PL) is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam. He grew up in Warsaw where he studied New Media Arts in 2015. In 2017, Łukasz moved to Netherlands to study at Graphic Design department at Gerrit Rietveld Academie. He is currently working on his graduation project related to his interest in amateur typography. The project is an archive of letters made by his Polish friends and family who do not have any background or knowledge in typography; amateurs.

William Becker

William Becker is graphic designer born and raised in Denmark. He worked as a junior art director in Copenhagen, before moving to Amsterdam in 2018 to study graphic design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. William’s work mostly focus on the topic of difficulties with written language.

During their study, Lukasz and William initiated a project around amateur typefaces made by students at the academy. The project was the outcome of an assignment from their teacher, Jungmyung Lee, and resulted in the book “Silly Amateur Don’t Cry”.

#30

17. Jun 2022

19:00–21:00 at GWA

YURI VEERMAN

LOOKING FOR SYMBOLS

Back at the Graphic Workshop Amsterdam, where posters with bold wood letters are printed and the operators are planing to build their own poster column, we like to talk about activist posters in public space.
In the last years, the most iconic placards around the city of Amsterdam are created by Yuri Veerman. Thanks to the project Who Owns The City?, initiated by designer and activist Ruben Pater, Yuri redirected his focus more onto poster-campaigns. Before that, his socio-political projects have used different mediums like Tumblr-blog, ceramic cups or perfor­man­ces.
We are keen to get some insights into the politics of “wild-plakken” and his method of reducing complex topics into strong motives.

Yuri Veerman is an independent artist & designer, based in Amsterdam. He studied Graphic Design at the HKU and did his Masters in Design at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Since his graduation at Sandberg, socio-political symbols — from a flag, a logo or a coin to the face of a prince or the price of a house — play a central role in his work. By taking these symbols out of their original context and giving them a seemingly simple twist, Yuri manages to turn a complex and slippery subject into a clear and iconic message. Ideally, Yuri throws his designs into the world, where they live a life of their own, and like memes, logos or symbols become a part of public discourse.

Yuri teaches Graphic Design at the Utrecht University of the Arts. In 2012 he co-founded Platform BK, an active think-tank for the arts in The Netherlands.

Typically, a story has a beginning, a middle and an end, so from that point of view, a static symbol cannot be seen as an actual story. However, a symbol does have the potential to tell a story. In his latest campaign, Veerman turned a simple financial graph of housing prices in Amsterdam into a symbol that simultaneously referred to the housing market, as well as the squatting movement. This ambiguous symbol was the starting point of an ongoing poster campaign addressing the housing crisis in The Netherlands.

For his talk at letterspace Yuri will dive deeper into his projects, and talk about the ideas and methodology behind his works.

#29

18. May 2022

19:00–21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

HANSJE VAN HALEM

SKETCHES – EDITION 4

Letterforms are a regular element of Hansje van Halem’s work next to the creation of patterns and ornaments. Famous examples include ScratchedLetter (2003), Grid- & WireLetters (2007), Lowlands (2017—ongoing) and the variable typeface Wind published by Typotheque in 2017.
The release of her fourth edition of Sketches, containing an abundance of new type experiments, presents the perfect occasion for Hansje to discuss her unique work and methodology at letterspace.
Don’t wait on it, the publication will sell out soon!

Hansje van Halem (NL 1978) studied graphic design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and since 2003 has led her own studio in Amsterdam. In her practice, she focuses on alphabets, patterns, textures and much more. This work is featured in her own book designs, posters and illustrations, as well as in public space in the forms like façades, gates and floors. Hansje’s designs are layered graphic landscapes — amorphous, hairy letter forms, a churning ocean of lines, trippy colours, complex surfaces, bodies in motion or temporarily frozen — that invite the viewer to linger. The work demands that the viewer take time and engage, an element that is rewarding and unexpected.

As a graduation project in 2003, Hansje self-published her first letter sketches. The publication was printed at a copy shop in an edition of 20. In 2013, Hansje’s trial and error design method was summarised into a 448 page Sketchbook. The first print run was sold out before it was properly announced. This book shifted Hansje’s commissions from applied book design to the characteristic lettering and patterns she’s known for now. In the years after new editions of sketch notebooks appeared irregularly. At letterspace Hansje will talk about her work building up to the latest release of ‘Sketches – Edition 4’. This publication is published in tandem with Jan de Jong / Uitgeverij de Buitenkant and printed by four different printers.

#28

13. Apr 2022

19:00–21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

Pink Pony Express

SPUITEN OF HAKKEN

Our aim is to ever expand into new territories related to type. For this talk we were tipped off by Bas Jacobs from Underware about a fascinating project that was unfolding almost a decade ago in Nijmegen. Amsterdam-based Cecilia Hendrikx and Tara Karpinski from Pink Pony Express are excited to share some insights onto this ‘art in public space’ intervention. The lecture will also delve into the unconventional methodology and research the Ponies are conducting.

Pink Pony Express is a research and design collective. Their basic strategy is research through making, with every exploration taking material form. These forms occupy or are brought back to the places under study. What is returned may not be immediately recognizable to the members of those communities – their work thus gives back what was never possessed in the first place, with research becoming an occasion for generous and eccentric exchange. The Ponies work at the crossroads of research, design and society. Their projects are realized both in The Netherlands and internationally, in locations where there is palpable friction between citizens and government. By making installations in public spaces, their work creates a shift in perspective – thus reevaluating complex social issues.

Time changes perception. What we choose to value correlates with the context it exists in.
‘Spuiten of Hakken’ (Giving back to Rome) reminds Nijmegen of its own history and its layered relationship with this history. Fleeting graffiti tags – utterances of our time – are paired with Roman stone carving, in preparation to enter the future.
Layering these two different kinds of craftsmanship – the spray can and the chisel – dares the passerby to ponder on the meaning of the pieces, and more importantly, the essence of what is worth preserving. The Ponies cooperated with master stonecutter Gerard van Luijn to realise this project.

#27

23. Mar 2022

19:00 – 21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

MAURICE MEILLEUR

ON JURRIAAN SCHROFER

We’re lucky to have Maurice Meilleur stop by letterspace on his research trip at the Jurriaan Schrofer Archive. Jurriaan Schrofer was an influential, yet nevertheless little-known Dutch graphic designer working in Amsterdam.
Meilleur will enrich his lecture ‘What can be letters, what letters can be’ with new discoveries from the archive. In his talk he will outline the term ‘constructed script’ and their significance, as well as put his own DrawBot experiments and animations into relation to Schrofer’s work.

Maurice Meilleur (Ames, Iowa) is a recovering political theorist turned graphic designer, who is an assistant professor teaching typography, computational design, and design ethics at Iowa State University. He completed a PhD in political theory Indiana University in Bloomington in 2004 and earned an MFA in graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015.
In addition to many lectures and contributions to Typographica and Fonts In Use, he has two book projects underway: one is on the semiotic and creative potential of constructed scripts, and the other is a critical catalog raisonné of the constructed script designs of Juriaan Schrofer.

Jurriaan Schrofer, was born in The Hague in 1926, a son of a painter. Originally Schrofer wanted to become a film director, but instead pioneered the photo book, worked at a printshop and at the Dutch public broadcast. He became partner at Total Design in Amsterdam in 1974. He also taught at several art academies in the Netherlands, such as the art and design academy in Arnhem and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 2013 the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam presented the exhibition TYPE/DYNAMICS, showcasing the works of Schrofer combined with interactive works by LUST. Schrofer died in 1990 in Amsterdam and his archive is now housed in the collections of the University of Amsterdam.

#26

23. Feb 2022

19:00 – 21:00 at Studio Zeeburg

Lara Captan

“TO LACE” – AN HOUR WITH ARABIC LETTERS

For the cold season, we will move our lectures to Zeeburgerpad 58, a few doors down from our original location.
There, we are excited to present Lara Captan, a specialist in Arabic typography and type-setting-systems. Her move to Amsterdam was partly motivated by her work with Decotype’s Advanced Composition Engine, an innovative smart-font algorithm. She also produced a bold set of kufi-script wood-letters, that are in use at the GWA.
Lara Captan prepared a brand new lecture especially for letterspace, which will be educative and entertaining to design-professionals and type lovers alike.

Lara Captan is an independent type designer & typographer based in Amsterdam. She is a researcher-practitioner and strives to provide alternative pathways for designing Arabic typefaces, both in form and technology.
She taught design and typography at the American University of Beirut between 2006 and 2013, then moved to The Netherlands where she has mostly been creating experimental Arabic typefaces. She regularly speaks at conferences around the world, and co-founded Arabic Type Design - Beirut with Kristyan Sarkis, which is the first international educational program dedicated to Arabic type design.

Arabic-scripted world has long given most of its artistic energy to the aesthetics of words and texts. However, with the popularity of the printing press and under the time pressure of an increasingly industrializing and digitalizing world, Arabic script has undergone many stages of simplification, reductionism, and forgetfulness of its inherent principles of construction. This talk will therefore briefly present the challenges at hand, highlight some solutions in their context of creation, and discuss some design wishes for the future of Arabic type.

#25

22. Oct 2021

19:00 – 21:00 at GWA

RONALD STEUR

AND THE LOST CHINESE MATRICES

This month’s lecture will take us on a quest to solve the mystery of 150 year old Chinese letter molds (matrices). After being asked about the fate of the 19th century Chinese matrices that were once produced by Tetterode Amsterdam, Ronald Steur — chairman of the Foundation Type Foundry Westzaan — started an adventurous quest to reveal the history behind this fascinating collection of more than 9000 letter molds. Who owns them? Where are they now? Where is the lead type that was cast using these molds? This search even sparked interest in Hong Kong and there was talk about “The Legend of the Hong Kong Types”. Finally, we will hear about the pilot project to recast the lost Hong Kong characters in collaboration with the Open Printshop in Hong Kong.

Typefoundry Westzaan (Stichting Lettergieten) was established in 1983 by professionals when Monotype Netherlands stopped their activities. There, Ronald Steur, together with other volunteers, is keeping the craft of casting lead type alive. Every Thursday, the workshop is open for the public, school-classes, and graphic designers. This extraordinary place not far from Amsterdam accumulated a large number of machines and matrices. In addition to the conservatory functions, the foundry also casts new typefaces, such as the two-tone Ziza stamps from Novo Typo (#7) or the production of the Hong Kong Type. A main concern for the continuation of the workshop is to find fresh volunteers.

In 1855 Johann Hoffmann, the first professor of Sinology at Leiden University, recommended to the Literary Section of the Academy of Sciences to acquire Chinese letters to be able to publish Chinese and Japanese texts. Hoffman found the Hong Kong types to be not only “very reasonably priced” but also “one of the most beautiful Chinese fonts”. In August 1858, with the help of the Dutch Consul in Hong Kong, a set of 5375 Chinese letters found its way via Rotterdam and Leiden to type foundry Nicolaas Tetterode in Amsterdam, where the production of the matrices by electrotyping means began …

#24

24. Sep 2021

19:00 – 21:00 at GWA

WELCOME TO GWA

It has been too long since we were able to host a lecture about type related work, made in Amsterdam.
If you’ve visited one of our more crowded evenings at Zeeburgerpad, you know that there is no way to provide enough distance and airflow at our studio. Luckily, the GWA reached out to us, offering to host our events at their new workspace in Amsterdam Noord at the creative hotspot NDSM.
After an introduction to the facilities of the GWA, Sabina Chipară and Martin Cadwallader will present the bespoke typeface for HS Kwartier, The Hague, which they created in collaboration with CIRCUS.

GRAFISCHE WERKPLAATS AMSTERDAM

CORINE ELEMANS


GWA stands for Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam (Graphic Workshop Amsterdam). It was founded in October 2004 in Amsterdam Oost. GWA aims to take the Dutch Graphic Heritage forward by conserving, restoring, and using letterpress material. As an open atelier, the GWA wants people to come visit, smell the ink, and touch the machines in person. Next to letterpress, the GWA offers workshops in bookbinding, etching, lino cutting, and photopolymer. Since the move to Noord, silkscreen capacities have been added to the workshop.

HS KWARTIER

SABINA CHIPARĂ & MARTIN CADWALLADER


For the up-and-coming Holland Spoor Kwartier, the creative studio CIRCUS developed a progressive and playful area brand. HS Kwartier is set to become The Hague’s most radiant district with an enticing mix of working, living and leisure concepts and facilities covering 90,000 sqm. This spectacular urban playground in the heart of The Hague surely deserved its own “voice”, so it should come to no surprise that the branding project included a bespoke typeface, designed by Martin Cadwallader and produced by Sabina Chipară. The two presenters will allow us a close look into the process of creating a custom typeface with several weights and even a variable-font. They will reveal what inspired the industrial letterforms and how it is to work on a typeface that will be the face of a whole neighborhood.


Thanks to:

Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam NDSM plein 27 1033 WC Amsterdam
#🖤

02. Sep 2020

18:30 – 20:30 at Noorderpark

Picnic

After the last press-conference of the government and having an eye on the climbing CoViD-19 infections in Amsterdam, we decided to cancel our fall season at letterspace.
Even though we really enjoy all things involved in organising these lectures and we are missing you all, we don’t find our informal gatherings important enough to put anyone at risk.
Since we would like to catch-up with you all, we came up with the idea of a picnic in the park, where we can follow safety measures and everyone can bring their own snacks and blanket.

We will provide bottled beverages and hand-sanitiser for everyone.
Since sharing food is not advised by the RIMV it’s best to bring your own food and a picnic blanket. There are public BBQ’s in Noorderpark, we will bring one as well and the coal, in case you’d like to put something on the fire. There is a variety of supermarkets on the way to Noorderpark, in case you’d like to pick something up.

DIRECTIONS

PUBILC TRANSPORT: take Metro 52 in direction of Noord. Exit at Noorderpark. Exit the station to your right and take the stairs to underpass the street to your left. Follow Adelaarsweg and take the pedestrian entrance opposite of Merelstraat.

BIKE: take any ferry going to Noord.
In case you come from West, the ferry at Ponststeiger will bring you to NDSM or Distelweg.

CAR: The IJtunnel will drop you right at Noorderpark.
Parking is free after 7pm, before that the hour costs € 1,40

The exact position is: 52.390815, 4.923596

#23

02. MAR – 09. APR 2020

online at 36.letterspace.amsterdam

#36daysoftype

36 Days of Type is a project that invites designers, illustrators and graphic artists to express their particular interpretation of the letters and numbers of the Latin alphabet. This year letterspace decided to join the open call in order to showcase the platform, our involved speakers, and guests. From March 2nd until April 9th we will post a letter of number a day on our minisite 36.letterspace.amsterdam and our social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram.
Because of the global health crisis CoViD-19, we are not able to facilitate our monthly meeting with the guests mentioned below.
We hope you are safe and that we will be able to pick up our programming as soon as possible.

Mónica Rojas

ATYPECAL


Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, Mónica Rojas found in design the perfect balance between practicality and art. Her eclectic work was born back during university while taking illustration, painting and photography classes. Monica’s passion for typography, lettering, and calligraphy have compelled her to attend several workshops to explore diverse techniques. To showcase those experiments, she created the Instagram profile “@Atypecal”, a word game that portrays what’s within: graphic experiments using letters, forms, and silly quotes.

Elmar van Zyl

3D ALPHABET


As a multi-disciplinary holistic designer, Elmar van Zyl is currently living and working in Amsterdam. He regards design as a perspective shifting and problem solving tool. He definitely excited us with his way of looking at the alphabet as three-dimensional objects that he posted on Behance. In his talk, he will grant us a look behind the curtains and talk about his creative choices involved in creating these virtual sculptures.

Ely Zanni

NOMAD UNICORN


For about a year, Ely Zanni has been a regular and welcome guest at letterspace. Born in Argentina, she came via Barcelona and London before settling in Amsterdam. Ely has a diverse portfolio of international clients and works to strengthen their brands through her bold and colourful style. Ely’s skills range from branding, lettering, packaging to illustration and all of them come together in her participations in past #36daysoftype.

Daniël Maarleveld

GOING VIRAL


Our #2 speaker, the graphic designer Daniël Maarleveld started sharing kinetic typography experiments on Instagram after attending a Drawbot workshop by Just van Rossum. “36 days of type” turned out to be a great way to share work quickly and to grow creatively without overthinking it. After Stefan Sagmeister shared one of his letter experiments, animation requests kept pouring in.

#22

19. Feb 2020

19:00–21:00 at letterspace.amsterdam

KEVIN ROOI

TYPOMENTO

In two years of letterspace, we have not yet explored the subject of hand lettering. Now we finally have the opportunity to do so. Kevin Rooi entered our radar through his proposed cover for Renate Boere’s upcoming book and we admire the cardboard cups, he customises on the fly, for his coworkers. Kevin’s lettering work is experimental and fresh, expressing a push to design and create. At letterspace, Kevin will share his work and discuss his project called Typomento, which explores his own position and identity as a designer.

Kevin Rooi works as a freelance typographer, designer and illustrator for a range of clients and agencies in and around Amsterdam. He was born and raised in Curaçao, relocated to Aruba with his family and finally moved to the Netherlands to study graphic design. His love for drawing and painting started as a kid and until now he has been fascinated by a wide spectrum of design disciplines especially if they involve type and lettering.

In his graduation project he focused on his identity as a designer from the Caribbean and how this makes him different from his fellow Dutch designers. Under the title Typomento (a combination of Type + Papiamento), he explores his native tongue and translates it into visual language for everyone to be understood.

Supported by:

Martina Flor Goods
#21

22. Jan 2020

19:00 – 21:00 at letterspace.amsterdam

Arno Verweij

AMSTERDAM TYPOGRAPHY

A year ago, a new account popped up in our Twitter-feed, @amsterdam_type, dedicated to architectural and public typography across the city of Amsterdam. Similar to our own approach, this collection is curated, yet not limited to one particular style or school. Now that Arno Verweij the creator behind @amsterdam_type, has launched a website mapping all of his Twitter posts to their location in the city, it’s a great opportunity for him to present his project at letterspace.

The project Amsterdam Typography started as a Twitter feed in January 2019. Particularly fascinated by the style of house numbers and name signs from the Interwar period, Arno Verweij decided to document the city’s interesting letters and numerals and share them with the world. To keep track of all these photos, he has put them on a map, which has resulted in the project’s website launched in December 2019.

When not crossing the city on his bike to hunt down new subjects for his Twitter-feed, Arno Verweij is developing websites and working at Stichting Proefjes, where he organises workshops for teachers and kids to introduce them in a playful way to science, physics and biology.

In his presentation, Arno will share the motivations behinds his Twitter-account and subsequent map, talk about experiences and observations, and will focus on some examples that deserve a closer look. We would be thrilled to attract some of the researchers and conservers of Type in Amsterdam to exchange expertise and maybe even share additional anecdotes.

#🕠

11. Dec 2019

18:30 – 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

530

FIVETHIRTY.TODAY

530 type club is a recent initiative from students within the graphic design department at ArtEZ, Arnhem, who have formed an independent collective interested in all things type design. When classes are over for the day, students organize themselves at 5:30pm on a weekly basis and engage in a variety of experiments and explorations of type.

TypeClub 530 is chatting about type, time and letters, everything in between and anything else. Its members create ugly shapes and smooth letters, half finished Glyphs files and shuffled alphabets.

Five Thirty (a.k.a. FVTY, 5 Thirty, Five 30, 5 3 0) organizes workshops on a weekly basis that focus on generating new ideas in form and concept within type design. The collective can be run by anyone, allowing easy experimentation with new ideas and processes. 530 is not tied down to one way of working; a workshop one week might ignore certain conventions, while the next workshop follows totally different rules.

At letterspace.amsterdam TypeClub 530 will showcase work they have done over the past two years and introduce what they are creating at the moment. With no formal education in type design, what does this informal experimentation look like? A mini-worshop and the lecture will be presented by Kuan-ting Chen, Dongbin Han, Jonathan van Loon & Benjamin McMillan.

Beer sponsor:

Glyphs App
#19

20. Nov 2019

18:30 – 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

JASPER DE WAARD

A MATTER OF PERCEPTION

Trust your eyes, they said. But why do your eyes keep fooling you? Or is it your brain that’s fooling your eyes? These are the questions that brought Jasper de Waard to the field of cognitive neuropsychology. Jasper is a type designer by night, and scientific researcher by day. He investigates visual perception, attention, and learning through experimental research.

In this talk, you will learn why horizontals appear thicker than verticals, why a Roman looks back-slanted after working on an Italic for a while, why the slash through your ł should not be continuous, and whether the left diagonal of the V should be thicker than the right one. With a little luck, you will also learn about the brain, about how much we don’t know, and about how we learned what we do know.

Jasper de Waard (Rotterdam, 1996) has been designing fonts since he was 12. He studied Liberal Arts and Sciences at Amsterdam University College and is currently in the second year of the Master Cognitive Neuropsychology at the Vrije Universiteit, where he also works as a research fellow. He has published in the scientific journal Vision about thickness perception, and on ilovetypography.com about type design. A collection of his work can be found at bureauroffa.com.

#18

16. Oct 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

Charlotte Rohde

A SPELL TO CAST, A SECRET TO KEEP

While some typographic thinkers believe that a typeface should not call for attention but just be a vessel for written content, typefaces can do so much more than this. Expressive type and typography can add an extra layer to verbal communication or even strengthen its message.
With striking typefaces in mind, we are exited to present Charlotte Rohde’s typographical work and typefaces, which caught our attention in Amsterdam’s arts and cultural scene.

In her talk, Charlotte will give a brief overview over her body of work in the field of type design and present her research and craft in progress as they revolve around feminism, witchcraft and (visual) language.

Charlotte Rohde (1992, DE) is a designer currently based in Amsterdam, working on the interface of typography and art. As part of the Sandberg Design Department, she is researching on how type as a form of magic can be used to embody and shape discourses within our society. Her work reaches from designing and publishing her own typefaces and translating them into spacial installations and poetry to developing and curating platforms for experimental type design. She’s been teaching design workshops like Saturday Type Fever at HfG Karlsruhe, Captcha Mannheim and ??? Summerschool in Estonia.

#17

18. Sep 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

AMSTELDOK

GRAHAM STURT (VBAT) &
PEDRO ARILLA (FONTSMITH)

Since its introduction at AtypI 2016, OpenType Font Variations have been a buzzword in the typographic and type-design community. Yet some skeptical voices doubt about these variable fonts having any practicality beyond their bandwidth-saving aspects for web-use. The example of the Amsteldok Campus designed by VBAT in collaboration with Fontsmith illustrates how variable fonts can be applied in smart, useable and iconic ways. We are really excited to start the letterspace fall season with a talk by Graham Sturt and Pedro Arilla about this project.

When leading communication services network WPP decided to brand its new Amsterdam campus, they turned to VBAT to develop a name, brand identity and overall attitude. Not only did the identity need to capture the creative DNA of all 15 of WPP’s Dutch agencies and their sum total of 1500 employees, it also needed to establish the campus as an important new landmark in the city of Amsterdam. The end result was a dynamic brand identity immersed into every aspect of the campus – from logotype, custom typography and iconography, wayfinding to furniture, interactive installations and statement walls. Ultimately its design, particularly its use of typography, has contributed to the location as an inspiring living entity, not just another corporate office building.

The talk at letterspace will take us behind the scenes of this groundbreaking project and present the process of developing the Amsteldok interactive variable front logo.

Graham Sturt Following his love of Dutch design Graham moved to Amsterdam in 2007, exchanging his beloved Vespa in London for a classic Dutch ‘oma fiets’ (‘grandmother’ bike). After joining VBAT 12 years ago, Graham assumed creative direction duties for the Amsterdam based branding & design agency in June 2014, becoming a board member in July 2018.
A specialist in identity development, Graham also has extensive experience in retail, digital, packaging, typographic and broadcast design. Creatively he is always looking for new and exciting ways of engaging people with brands.

Pedro Arilla is a type designer & typographer from Spain working at Fontsmith and living in London (UK). Alongside his day job at Fontsmith Pedro hosts one of the most well-known publications on typography in the Spanish language (Don Serifa), organises and teaches an international one-week type design workshop (Glíglifo), and owns a small letterpress studio.

#16

19. Jun 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

JANNO HAHN

TYPE IN ALL DIMENSIONS

When moving through public spaces in Amsterdam, it’s difficult to miss the work of Janno Hahn. His lettering on buildings, bridges, and signs resembles classical typographic styles that have been typical of the city’s vernacular.
Janno makes his letters contemporary by honouring their historical style, while adding a personal flare.
The talk at letterspace will take us behind the scenes of some of his recent public works and also present some autonomous and experimental new projects.

Janno Hahn (Enkhuizen 1980) likes to call himself a semi-autodidact, even though he studied at the Graphic Lyceum in Amsterdam, the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the Plantin Institute of Typography in Antwerp. He left each study in the second year, deciding he had seen enough. In between those years he worked at various well known graphic design studios.

Since 2006 he operates under his own name, working in the field of printed and spatial type design, typography and graphic design. Besides commissioned work by various types of clients and collaborations, he also works on autonomous type and art projects.

You might have come across the bridge and tunnel to the Spaarndammerbuurt, the new bridges of the Hourhaven or his positive reinforcement poetry on bike lanes in Amsterdam West.

#15

22. May 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

NICOLIEN VAN DER KEUR

TYPEWRITER TYPE STYLES

Thanks to the recent Footnotes issue C, we became aware of Nicolien van der Keur’s fascinating research into typewriter styles and their influence on letterpress typefaces. This research started as a PhD at the University of Leiden that had been supervised by Gerard Unger. We are happy we could convince Nicolien to present a part of her research at letterspace correlating with the publication of her text. We will sell a few hardcopies of Footnotes for € 20.–, please let us know in advance if you are interested.

In her research Nicolien van der Keur investigates the relationship between the design and production of typefaces for print and for typewriters. Central to her research is the question: how do particular styles influence one another and what are notable differences deriving from the technical limitations?
Next to the rationalisation of glyph widths, typewriters also have a limited set of signs, like punctuation marks, that forces the typist to come up with creative solutions for emphasis or creating lists.
The typewriter, both analog and digital, is making a comeback. The distinctive style of a typewriter can be mimicked with advanced OpenType features as seen in Trixie by letterror. Others like Luke Winter or Álvaro Franca with his Typewriter Portraits embrace analogue machines.

Nicolien van der Keur is an independent type designer and graphic designer based in The Netherlands. After her education in graphic design she worked for several years with agencies and publishers before she founded her own studio in 1999.
Her experience with type during her work with complex books, magazines, and corporate identities sparked her interest further into how typefaces and typography reinforce each other. This curiosity directed her to the University of Reading (UK), where she received an MA degree in 2007, specialising in designing a typeface for dictionaries and other complex, high-density text environments. Nicolien’s special interest is in the combination of designing typefaces and then working with them to produce a desired effect. Nicolien published the typeface Sirba with TypeTogether.

#14

17. Apr 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

FRITS JONKER

COMIC SANS AND OTHER ALPHABETS

If you thought that Comic Sans is the typeface used to fill in the speech-bubbles of comics, think again. There are not enough OpenType features in the world to replace the flexibility and experienced hand of a skilled hand-writer. In cooperation with the BNO we invite Frits Jonker to introduce us to this undervalued profession. He will also present a rich collection of fabulous alphabets he created as a side-practice.

Frits Jonker is lettering comics and graphic novels since 1979 for nearly every local publisher and comic artist. Apart from this he contributed to countless publications by writing about phenomenal and curious topics, such as forgotten music genres, all sorts of visual languages and exotic sciences.
Next to hand-lettering comics, Frits creates alphabets — fantastic alphabets – but also alphabets based on the architecture and vernacular of Amsterdam or comic related letters.
Last but not least, all his life Frits Jonker published strictly limited fanzines about myriad subjects he is interested in.

Co-hosted by the bno:

#13

13. Mar 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

VETTELETTERS

DONALD BEEKMAN & DONALD ROOS

We are looking forward to a rich evening of type-related projects. Donald Beekman is known for hosting Typeradio together with Liza Enebeis, and his letters and logos are featured across the city of Amsterdam. Donald Roos recently released a book and a game that help with time management and a platform to share corporate identities with clients. In addition he makes typography for movie-titles. Together Donald and Donald run the foundry VetteLetters: a home for bold, greasy and eccentric typefaces.

Donald Beekman was born and raised in Amsterdam. After studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (1979-1984) he started his graphic design and music studio dbxl.nl. Through his own musical engagement Beekman acquired a large network in the music industry for which he designed numerous logos, album artwork, flyers, posters, identities, magazines and packaging. Next to these clients, cultural institutions and restaurants, the smart drugs distributor Conscious Dreams found their way to DBXL. Donald Beekman designed many typefaces, most of them emanating from logos or artwork designed for clients. DBXL typefaces are published internationally by VetteLetters, Fontshop/Monotype and Cape-Arcona. Since 2004 Donald Beekman has been host of Typeradio, the online radio- and podcast-station on design and typography.

Donald Roos was born and raised close to Amsterdam. He studied graphic and typographic design at the Royal Academy of The Hague.
After graduating in 2001 and working as a freelancer, in 2008 he started Bureaudonald, a studio that works for clients but mainly strives to set up self initiated projects together with other professionals. One of the first projects was indie font foundry VetteLetters.
Other current projects are Brandbook.io, the ToDon’tCompany and Planet X Title Design. PLX Title Design is focussing on designing of title sequences for feature films and television series or even music videos.
Donald has taught at the Art Academies of Rotterdam and The Hague for more than 13 years. He is the author of Don’t Read This Book.

VetteLetters, based in Amsterdam, loves food and loves fonts. VetteLetters is fascinated by kebab shops, local chinese restaurants and fish-and-chips joints – not just the food but especially the shop front typography. If all other type foundries are like haute cuisine restaurants, then VetteLetters is the snackbar in the world of exclusive and expensive font foundries. So let’s introduce our chefs: After a wonderful career as a dishwasher, assistant cook, some kind of designer, and last but not least type designer, Donald® Roos is now one of VetteLetters CEOs. Donald DBXL Beekman is ‘the other Donald’ and also the other CEO. DBXL produces as many typefases as Prince makes records. Jacques Le Bailly also known as the Baron von Fonthausen is Chief Type Tech. Dev. Dept. and we have Martin TwoPoints Lorenz, baking his fonts in the lovely climate of Barcelona. The latest additions to the VetteLetters stable are designers Henning Brehm aka ‘Design Tourist’ (hailing from Berlin), and Alexandre Saumier Demers from Montreal, Canada. Vette Letters aims to design high end typography with an aura of cheap greasyness. Just the way we like it.

#12

13. Feb 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

Richard Niessen

THE PALACE OF TYPOGRAPHIC MASONRY

At TypeAmsterdam 2015 Richard Niessen laid down the first stones for the foundation of the Palace of Typographic Masonry. Since then, this imaginary collective building has produced exhibitions, lectures, a website and in Fall 2018 a massive guidebook through its warren of passages and chambers.
We are delighted that Richard Niessen will share this vision, what he’s established so far and an outlook to the future of this collaborative platform. Richard will present a closer look into the department of signs that include the Labyrinth of Scripts and the Asemic Cabinet.

The encyclopaedic project ‘The Palace of Typographic Masonry’ is founded by Richard Niessen in 2015 in response of the fact that the Netherlands actually lacked an institute dedicated to the graphic design profession. Where could fellow designers keep up to date on new developments, identify longer historical connections, enter into debate and show each other their work under the best possible conditions? The Palace of Typographic Masonry is based on a keenly perceptive and concerned analysis of our society and media culture.

The Palace is structured on the basis of nine themes: Sign, Symbol, Ornament, Construction, Poetics, Play, Order, Craft and Practice. It comes as no surprise that others are invited to help to build the Palace, to celebrate the depth, breadth, excitement and power of their profession. Colleagues and enthusiasts are called on to come together and form a lively structure for exchange, interaction and to build an imaginary clubhouse that’s always under construction.

Richard Niessen (1972) graduated in 1996 from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and as a graphic designer he earned a name for himself with his colorful posters and expressive typography, innovative identities and his collaborations with other artists. In 2007 he created ‘TM-City’, a traveling retrospective for the Festival International de l’Affiche, Chaumont, France. In 2014 he added the book and installation ‘A Hermetic Compendium of Typographic Masonry’ to his body of work. Besides working in commission Niessen regularly initiates projects of his own like the publication series ‘1:1:1’ (2010-2016). In 2015, Niessen launched ‘The Palace of Typographic Masonry’, a platform with the aim of combining experimentation and research, connecting different disciplines and embedding graphic design in a broader cultural and historical context.

#11

16. Jan 2019

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

Marta Cerdà

MULTIMODAL TYPOGRAPHY

Type was invented to communicate with the same goal as the spoken word: create understanding. But like the spoken word, type also communicates with its tone, its volume, its gestures, type is multimodal, it is integrated with other semiotic means of expression such as color, texture, three-dimensionality, or movement. In this talk Marta Cerdà will present her work and the different ways it brings typography together with other disciplines.

Marta Cerdà is an Amsterdam based independent artist and graphic designer. Her main body of work focuses on the boundaries between typography and illustration, and stands out for being very eclectic and flexible in style. Before founding her own studio in 2008, Marta worked in advertising agencies and design studios across Europe. On her own, she has contributed to global projects calling for design, illustration and custom typography for art, culture, editorial and advertising clients. Her work has been recognized by professional organizations including the Type Director’s Club and the Art Director’s Club, where she was named as an ADC Young Gun.

#X

12. Dec 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

RECAP

ANNUAL REVIEW & HOLIDAY DRINKS

We had a busy year at letterspace and would like to take the time to thank all of our guests and speakers. In addition we’d like to introduce our new studio-mate, Willen Stapel, and reflect on our own projects from the past year in a few short presentations.

Sabina Chipară

Custom made typography and optically balanced logotypes is what makes brands stand out and communicate in a coherent personal way. Sabina is happy to work for the design of Juandi a corporate typography for Stupendous and collaborate with Mas Peters as a type specialist.

Diana Ovezea

Diana is currently focusing on future project #🤰🏻, so in her place Edgar will give a short introduction to future fonts, a new and developing platform through which Diana sells three typefaces.

Willem Stapel

Studio Willem Stapel is a digital image creation studio with a focus on 3D visualisations and animations. Crossing boundaries in disciplines and between reality and fiction is a central subject in his work. Sensual and atmospheric scenes arise from placing classical themes in a contemporary context.

Johannes Verwoerd

A year of surprises; several trips to Mars, a last minute assignment from the Anne Frank House, and a rabbit that glows in the dark.

Edith Winkler

Innovation seems to arise in large extent from interaction. The design and programming of spaces is a powerful tool to stage interaction, to invoke spontaneous action and to facilitate creativity. Edith Winkler from W_architectuurstudio will share some thoughts and projects with us on the design and curation of social spaces.

Edgar Walthert

Edgar kept a lot of different type projects moving simultaneously this year: he released his typeface Logical through Bold Monday while continuing to work with them on the extension of IBM Plex. He will show how his ambitions lead to a whole set of technical issues that required new approaches in the final production of his extensive typeface.

#9

14. Nov 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

JAN DE JONG ON BRAM DE DOES

SYSTEMATICALLY SLOPPY (2003)

To venerate the work of Amsterdam’s celebrated type designer Bram de Does, we’ve invited the printer and publisher Jan de Jong from Uitgeverij de Buitenkant to share some anecdotes and to present the documentary “Systematisch Slordig” (Systematically Sloppy) from 2003 with English subtitles. We will also assemble a pop-up-store for the occasion with typographic publications from De Buitenkant.

Jan de Jong and De Buitenkant are an important part of The Dutch typographical scene. In addition to books by Bram de Does, there are other important books from Gerard Unger, Hansje van Halem, Mathieu Lommen, Martin Kaye and Novo Typo (our guest #7). The small printshop is located in the center of Amsterdam, and its publications are regularly awarded The Best Dutch Book Designs.

Bram de Does, born as the son of a printer in Amsterdam East, studied at the Amsterdam Graphic School and worked afterward in the printing workshop of Royal Joh. Enschedé and Sons in Haarlem. When asked to design a typeface for the printing-firm, Bram de Does quit his job and worked two years on the design of Trinité knowing that this was the only way to claim royalties for his typeface. Later in collaboration with Peter Matthias Noordzij he developed the typeface Lexicon for the The Great Dictionary of the Dutch language.
His typefaces are beloved by type-designers for their great readability and human flavour and are amongst the most expensive fonts in the market.

#8

24. Oct 2018

18:30 – 20:30 at P/////AKT

Type@Rietveld

TYPE FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Though there is no actual type design department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, graphic design graduates continue to develop typefaces that influence the graphic-design scene and cultural publications in Amsterdam and beyond. The next letterspace will therefore highlight the ongoing work of three recent Rietveld graduates, who will discuss their research, influences and methodologies, as well as their experiences as autodidacts in an increasingly professionalising type world.

JOLANA SÝKOROVÁ

VISUAL EXCEPTIONS


Amsterdam based graphic and type designer Jolana Sýkorová graduated from Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. For her graduation project at Rietveld, she researched a lesser known period of Czech glass designer Frantisek Vizner and subsequently designed a sans-serif typeface with alternate characters inspired by his work. She further developed this typeface in conjunction with the Sculpture Cam project at studio Moniker where she currently works. Jolana also designs books using self-created or uncommon printing and binding techniques by thinking of the reader and the physicality of the medium in order to find an intriguing form.

WOOSEOK JANG

STUDENT’S DEVIATION


Wooseok Jang started to design typefaces while studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie from 2016 to 2018. He graduated with a library of typefaces including the experimental typeface ‘variable text’ that plays with type-industries favourite new feature – variable fonts – and is intended for digital reading. His type design process plays with and modifies formal elements of letters, by exploiting his perspective of a non-Latin user. We will also learn in what way the education at Rietveld influenced his resulting designs. One of his typefaces Dummy Sans was used for the graduation show 2018 poster and its way finding system.

MADS WILDGAARD

BOLD DECISIONS


Bold-Decisions is a foundry operated by Mads Wildgaard (graduating class of 2014) — It has regularly released typefaces since 2015, and now produces custom typefaces with and for cultural institutions and corporations, in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. With Lars initiated at the Rietveld in ’14, and a name influenced by the school as well, the talk will be explaining the mechanism and reason of the foundry and work of Mads.
— Besides explaining the basics of Bold-Decisions, it will also be a personal reasoning of how and why the Rietveld — or more specifically — it’s graduates continues to affect the contemporary type scene.

#7

19. Sep 2018

18:30 – 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

NOVO TYPO

THE FUTURE OF TYPOGRAPHY IS COLORFUL

In printing and typographic circles of Amsterdam, one will likely encounter the work of Mark van Wageningen. He cut his wooden type Bixa down the street from letterspace, at makerspace ZB45, and it’s now being used just around the corner at GWA. De Buitenkant, also situated in Oost, printed and published his Novo Typo Color Book.
It is about time that we invite Mark to present his variety of chromatic layer fonts at letterspace. He is eager to discuss his work with type designers, designers and others.

Mark van Wageningen is the founder of Novo Typo, a (typo)graphic design studio and foundry based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
In January 2015 Novo Typo started the Typewood / Bixa Color project. Typewood is a research project about designing, deconstructing and transforming multi-colored digital typefaces into wooden type for letterpress. In 2016, this project was followed by Hotmetaltype project Ziza. Both projects try to show the future of chromatic typography by re-inventing and deconstructing history. In March 2017, van Wageningen published the Novo Typo Color Book about the technical and editorial possibilities and challenges of contemporary chromatic typography. These achievements have been awarded by the TDC New York and ADC Netherlands among others.

#6

20. Jun 2018

18:30 – 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

JEROEN KRIELAARS

ANIM(MATED TYP)OGRAPHY

As designers we often take our tools as a given. Fonts are black and white, and we might decide to add color, to stack, extrude or animate them in an extra process. With new font formats such as colour fonts or the most recent craze: variable fonts, the gridlocked ways of thinking about typefaces have become more malleable.
The platform Animography by Jeroen Krielaars, is among the pioneers that keep pushing the boundaries of possibilities within font-formats. Animography locates itself today primarily in motion-design circles, since its solution for animated typefaces is currently limited to the Adobe AfterEffects environment.
We are excited to host Jeroen Krielaars as he presents his library of moving and colourful fonts, and hope that some fruitful new connections might be initiated in our space.

Jeroen Krielaars is a self taught motion designer from Amsterdam. After years in the industry he started Animography, a type-foundry specialising in animated typefaces. What started as an experimental side project is now a full-time occupation. Together with a network of type-designers, motion-designers and programmers, he is constantly exploring the combination of type and motion from different angles.

#5

16. May 2018

18:30 – 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

Laura Meseguer & Kristyan Sarkis

A TYPOGRAPHIC MAGHRIBI TRIALOGUE

Since more than a decade, the Amsterdam based Khatt Foundation matches designers form different cultures to develop multilingual typographical systems. The most recent Matchmaking 3.0 in Maghrib, combined (among others) the powers of two TypeMedia alumni that both presently live and work in Amsterdam.
Laura Meseguer and Kristyan Sarkis will offer insight into the Typographic Machtmaking project and present their result: the TDC award-winning trilingual typeface Qandus.

In the Maghreb, the confluence of native cultures with different colonial periods has produced an extraordinarily diverse heritage. The history of this region and the Andalus could be told in more than twenty languages and written in any of the three common writing systems: Latin, Arabic and Tifinagh.

From this context the Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib Project of the Khatt Foundation came into being as a way to facilitate a cultural trialogue, as well as shed a typographic spotlight on the largely ignored writing and design traditions of the region. The specific goal of the collaboration is the research and development of tri-script font families that can communicate harmoniously. The project created an excellent opportunity for interaction and conversation between the members of all the different teams, as they researched the environment in which those scripts originated, evolved, and were used, through field trips to Marrakech, Córdoba and Granada.

#4

25. Apr 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

DAVID BENNEWITH

APPROACHES TO THE TYPEFACE DESIGN OF INUKTITUT SYLLABICS

Within the context of an oversaturated market and automated tools, type designers must now reflect on the ways they can bring something innovative or of value to the world. It now seems like a pivotal time to widen the field and to consider type systems that have been overlooked or underdeveloped. Therefore we are happy to invite David Bennewith, who will present his research into a selection of font products for Inuktitut syllabics. David runs the studio Colophon and is head of the Graphic Design Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam.

In early 2000, the Unicode Consortium published the USAC (Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics) standard. This standard constitutes a set of “code points” comprising single characters of the whole set needed to reproduce Inuktitut syllabics, among other Canadian Aboriginal languages. Derived from phonetic analysis, Inuktitut was conceived to make the Inuit language visible in an easy to learn and comprehensible way. As a result, Inuktitut syllabics were readily adopted and popularised by many Inuit. Over the years, Inuktitut syllabics have become a co-official script (along with a version using Latin orthography) in Nunavut, the northern-most territory of Canada. In the digital age, type design software, font products, and standardisation efforts like Unicode offer ways for Inuktitut syllabics to be transmitted between many different digital devices.

This research was initiated after being invited by artist Hinrich Sachs to contribute to Fog Friend Font, an editorial framework in reference to the transformative developments occurring in the realm of writing and speaking today, as triggered by digital communication. It will be published by Humboldt Books, Milan, in September of this year.

This talk presents and compares a selection of professionally designed digital fonts, published between 2001 and 2015, that conform to the UCAS standard. It also brings together examples of other Inuktitut syllabic fonts, two distinct (yet overlapping) histories and Inuktitut syllabic fonts in (mis-)use. Describing the contexts of the fonts creation — and looking at the fonts themselves — this talk attempts to gather and foreground the meanings and intentions that the designers bring to their work.

#😉

14. Mar 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

It’s clear that pictographs and symbols, through the help of smartphones and emojis, have continued to assert themselves as a dominant part of our written language. Have our alphabets begun the return to an image-based or logo-graphic language?

We’ve invited three speakers, whose work analyses different angles of the emoji to explore this question in both critical and refreshing ways.

LILIAN STOLK

TEARS OF JOY


Lilian Stolk focuses on how language becomes visual. Through her background as a historian and an artist, she observes the new visual language of emoji both from a theoretical and practical perspective. She will present her view on these symbols as a modern-day “emoji expert”, and consider the ways internet technologies and smartphones have changed the speed and directness of written communication.
Lilian is currently finishing her Het zonder woorden boek, over the phenomenon of image-based communication and organises The Hmm, evenings on digital visual culture.

Mantas Rimkus

DEMOJI


Mantas Rimkus is a graphic designer currently living and working at LAVA design studio in Amsterdam. He recently graduated from Willem de Kooning academy with the Demoji project, which was developed in collaboration with his colleagues and other artists from abroad. Widely used emojis triggered Mantas to take a deeper and more critical look at this visual communication tool. He found out that these emojis are positive, one-sided, non-critical and mainly relevant only for Western societies. As a result we miss lot of representations of critical subjects and culture-specific topics. Demoji highlights important points of critique in the otherwise beloved emojis.

Arthur Reinders Folmer

DISCLOSING DINGBATS


Arthur Reinders Folmer is specialised in type design, typography and illustration. Through his type foundry, Typearture, he creates typefaces that are not just collections of glyphs, but type that tells a story.
With the Disclosure Dingbats he explores the ability of icons to do more than illustrate an action: What if they are able to reveal a meaning or tell a story? These Dingbats are a “what if” experiment, merging everyday usable icons with hidden messages. Consisting of relevant and irrelevant secrets, the Dingbats are filled with material to be mocked, but also explore the ability of a typeface to warp our words.

#2

14. Feb 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

Daniël Maarleveld

GENERATING TYPOGRAPHY

Please join us on this special date to share our appreciation of type and typography. On this occasion we would love to present you the work of Daniël Maarleveld. He will present his typographic experiments and generative design work, looking into how the limitations of technology enable him to develop a new-found freedom in his process.

Daniël Maarleveld is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam. In 2007, he graduated from Graphic Design departmen at the Rietveld Academie with his PenJet project. This was a collaboration with fellow classmates, which showed the movement of the print head using an attached pen. With practice he began to work more directly with the limitations of movement in order to experiment with type, and through this, an adapted typeface for the PenJet emerged. This working method, using the possibilities and limitations of a new or existing tool or technique, is a source of inspiration for Daniel’s approach to design. In addition, he seeks out unexplored mathematical, natural and mechanical principles, as well as ways to use them in his design. This results in work that balances between machine and handmade.

#1

10. Jan 2018

18:30 — 20:30 at letterspace.amsterdam

MILDA KURAITYTĖ

TRACKING KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY

We are proud to announce our inaugural letterspace lecture to take place right at the beginning of 2018. Milda Kuraitytė will present her PhD research into kinetic typography, with an analysis of moving letters and their positive impact on memory and caution. We encourage everyone involved in the design of screen typography, whether online, offline or mobile, to join in this evening.

Milda Kuraitytė is a Communication Design PhD student at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, and a member of Cost’s project E-Read, which unites researchers on digital reading. Milda Kuraitytė works between the fields of Typography and Psycholinguistics, running experiments that use stimuli of Kinetic Typography and an eye tracking system.
Kinetic Typography is typography on screen that includes movement. The achievements of the twentieth century technology witnessed the appearance of a number of increasingly complex categories of Kinetic Typography with a direct impact on its readability. The present research consists of a series of experiments on the legibility and readability of Kinetic Typography, using an eye tracking system to verify the hypothesis that Fluid Typography can be used in the education process.

#0

13. Dec 2017

18:30 — 21:00 at letterspace.amsterdam

Pilot

PRE-LAUNCH AND HOLIDAY DRINKS

letterspace.amsterdam opens its doors for the first time. Before we kick off our series of mostly type-based events in 2018, we would like to introduce the space, ourselves and our work. Please join us to learn more and to toast our new project.

Sabina Chipară

Romanian Archaic Alphabets

An overview of the Romanian Archaic Alphabets used in the 19th century, a period of transition from Cyrillic letterfoms to Latin. In this context a hybrid character design emerged. Can these peculiar shapes become an inspiration for future display typefaces?

Johannes Verwoerd

Poëzie Museum

Let’s have a look behind the surface of the Poëzie Museum on the Museumplein

Edith Winkler

W. architecture ’n design

'My work is like telling stories, the medium is physical space'.
Edith Winkler propagates a haptic, sensory, narrative, playful as well as participatory approach towards architectural space & interior design. A designprocess with W-and is an interactive process, W-and doesn’t work for but with clients. W-and translates personal and unique stories to spaces that matter, make sense and fit.

Diana Ovezea

3 years, 6 families, and 321 banners later.

When the Indian Type Foundry approached Diana to design a font superfamily in 2014, she couldn’t refuse. In her talk, Diana will show how this project marked the beginning of a longer cooperation and pushed her to expand her own studio, connect with new collaborators and redefine her practice.

Edgar Walthert

Invisible Work

After more than 10 years working in the field of type production, Edgar likes to shine a light on some of the hidden secrets of type-engineering. We will have a look at IBM Plex, the recently developed typeface in the team of Bold Monday.

The event will be accompanied with Glühwein and other appropriate treats.

contact

Sign up for our monthly announcements.

If you are interested in giving a talk or want to recommend someone we should get in touch with, please send us an email. Note that we focus on people or subjects that are situated in Amsterdam.


abc@letterspace.amsterdam

studio:
letterspace.amsterdam
Lauriergracht 116 X
1016 RR Amsterdam

lectures:
De Lange Adem
Ruyschstraat 295
1091 DX Amsterdam

Social: Instagram Mastodon

Credits

CMS: Kirby 3.7.5
Typeface: IBM Plex Mono
Webdesign: Edgar Walthert
Programming: André Fincato

Links

Sabina Chipară Typedesign
Diana Ovezea Typedesign
Jolana Sýkorová type & graphic design
Johannes Verwoerd Studio ideas & typography
Edgar Walthert type & graphic design

Thanks to all our participants,

Graphic Workshop Amsterdam,
Pictoright Fonds and
Association of Dutch Designers.