When the studio was in San Francisco, in April I also visited the Letterform Archive — a global organisation with a local soul, who love letters, with 12,000 square foot public space and home to 100, 000 design artifacts.
The studio visit to San Francisco was part of the studios talk at UC Berkeley a week with the honoural invitation to judge news design at SND 47 Berkeley for the Society for News Design organisation.
I met with Theo Dumothier at the Archive and he had put forward a large table of type books and specimens to digest. Opposite my table was another woman: Avery Fox from La Times. We were both from the same event at the SND in Berkeley, so mr Dumothier had thoughtfully seated us together. We talked about The Black Panter Press among many exiting letterforms.
Every letter tells a story
Letterform Archive has a special collection of analog artifact’s that stand out as an authentic unalterable witness to history. The ambition is to preserve designs past and future and to be; The best organisation on the planet to do it. The knowing people, the warm space, and the welcoming style is unique.
The audience is huge, see my IG post I shared with the Archive, that got 31,5 K views and 938 likes, and it ain’t stopping … The book that mainly drew all type lovers is; “The American Specimen Book Of Type Styles”, 1912, American Type Foundry (main photo). One comment I received is; “This book is the holy grail” …
Look Out!
Let me also show you what just arrived in the studio… “The American Specimen Book Of Type Styles”, 1912, American Type Foundry! I found a rare copy from a collector in Buffalo and I’m so excited to dive back into it. The studios working method is based on type research and the study of different letterforms.
View the opening of the book in the video short