Hasta La Ideas

This September, designer Alan Kitching will be hosting two of his workshops which focus on the fundamentals of typography and make full use of the letterpress equipment based at his London shop…

The Typography Workshop has been running for 20 years and is billed as a hands-on course for letterpress enthusiasts. The seminal printers’ handbook, The Printer’s Terms (1949) by Rudolph Hostettler, lies at the heart of the project and Kitching will be referring to 215 of the 1,362 terms featured in the book, a number of which will then be reinterpreted by the workshop’s participants. A selection of the finished pieces are set to be included within a limited edition publication on the project.

Accordingly, as part of the rigourous practice evinced in the workshops, a series of external examiners will also participate including Margaret Calvert, Fernando Gutierrez and George Hardie.

So what can you expect from the two days? The Typography Workshop’s press release states that participants will “work directly with ink, paper and both metal and wood type; learn the fundamentals of letter spacing, leading and kerning; enjoy the thrill of seeing their work come to life through the physicality of letterpress; and gain a more in-depth understanding of typographic detail.”

While interested parties do not need experience of letterpress to participate the course is, they say, “not for the faint-hearted” as it will be “unashamedly delving into the finer details of typography”. It sounds, well, unashamedly great to us.

The dates for the next two workshops are September 9-10 and 23-24. For more information, contact workshop assistants Jon Kielty and Ross Shaw on info@thetypographyworkshop.com. See also thetypographyworkshop.com.

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