Recently I’ve fallen in love with letters again. In high school I got way into letters: fonts, lettering, calligraphy, the whole works. For a short time after college I even got paid for it, doing wedding invitations. But my interest waned as there were no other weirdos like me, and I seemed to be in a creative rut playing with the standard shapes and doodling in my journals.
That changed earlier this year when I discovered several online letter-loving communities and a whole new world of art and creativity. Basically, “the kids” are rediscovering letters too and doing amazing über-creative work. Well, it’s not just kids: old-timer calligraphers like me are getting new inspiration from the forms of graffiti and street art.
(I can’t help but wonder if the immanent end of handwriting is a cause. Now that hand writing is no longer a needed skill, we can step back and see it as a beautiful art?)
Tonight I’m giving a talk about my rediscovered passion at Ignite SF, and will direct people to this post to find out more about letters.
The Reddit communities where I particitpate:
Artists of note
- Niels “Shoe” Meulman, Amsterdam (coiner of the “calligraffiti” term)
- Pokras Lampas, Moscow
- El Seed, Paris
- Adam Romuald Klodecki ‘Theosone’, Warsaw
- Chaz Bojorquez, Los Angeles
- Luca Barcellona, Milan
- Retna, Los Angeles
- Sure & Faust, New York (RIP Sure)
- Garbage beauty, Paris
- Forcefielder, Osaka
- Patrick Cabral aka Dark Gravity, Manila
- Ernie Francis, Ontario
- Atotalpirate, Florida
I also teach an occasional class at Noisebridge in San Francisco called Letter Lovers, which is part class and part just a hangout for likeminded people to geek out with letters. 🙂 Signup on the mailing list to be notified about classes.
You can follow my latest work on Instagram or Tumblr.