Register

Letterform Archive + Type@Cooper

By Peggy Roalf   Thursday November 12, 2015

Rob Saunders has been in publishing most of his life, and over the past 35 years has amassed an outstanding collection of historically significant design books and periodicals, graphic arts ephemera, and specimens of 20th-century metal typefaces.

He founded Picture Book Studio in 1981 which published dozens of award-winning children’s books from authors like Eric Carle and Jane Goodall. He ran Alphabet Press, producing titles by or about graphic artists like Friedrich Neugebauer, Hans Eduard Meier, Lance Hidy, and David Lance Goines. Saunders’ career veered into designing, teaching, and consulting, but he has never diverted from one pursuit: collecting. 

 

In 2013 he began photographing items from his collection, and Letterform Archive was born. Initially, it was an online archive; it was recently transformed into a library and a new home for workshops and a public lecture series focusing on lettering, digital typeface design, font production and typography. In September, it joined forces with Type@Cooper to offer a post-graduate certificate program in typeface  design.

Since 2010, Type@Cooper, a program offered through The Cooper Union’s Continuing Education Department, has offered two programs in typeface design; one a year-long part-time Extended program, and the other, an intensive five-week full-time Condensed program offered in the summer.

Taught by top industry professionals, both programs provide in-depth instruction in typeface design and production, lettering, and the history and theory of typeface design. Additionally, a series of free lectures by guest speakers attracts a dedicated audience of design professionals, students, and enthusiasts. Public workshops offer both a point of entry for non-participants and a way for type design professionals to continue learning advanced skills.

“Letterform Archive and The Cooper Union share a common mission: to inspire and educate young designers. Type@Cooper is therefore the perfect vehicle by which to launch world-class educational offerings on type design here in the Bay Area,” said Saunders, “The Archive curates a wide range of inspirational artifacts—books, posters, periodicals, ephemera—that can support intensive collections-based instruction. We are especially pleased to be able to offer hands-on access to our newly-acquired Tholenaar collection, which includes 4,000 bound type specimens and 8,000 pieces of type ephemera.”

Left: AM Cassandre, Foire de Paris, 1956, courtesy Letterform Archive; top: Letterform Archive, photo: Chroniclebooks.com

Type@Cooper West will offer the Extend Program, a year-long intensive program of study including history of the graphic arts, typeface design, drawn letters, and letterpress printing among many others. The deadline for applications is November 16th; the program begins on January 25th, 2016. Info Instructors

Upcoming public programs include Drawn Letters with Jim Parkinson [November 14-15] and Integrating Letters & Images, with Michael Doret [November 21-22]. Info

Letterform Archive is open by appointment Tuesday-Friday, from 1 to 5 pm. 1001 Mariposa Street, Unit 307, San Francisco, CA. Info Visit the Letterform Archive sampler

 

 


DART