Fraktur Calligraphy Retreat

This month of August I spent one week in Saint-Anotine-l’Abbaye, France, studying Fraktur calligraphy with Keith and Amanda Adams, two amazing teachers and calligraphers, a real privileged to be with.

We learned the ductus and the basic structure of the script, starting with the minuscule. Then we reviewed a few variations of gothic scripts. We then moved to majuscules and we learned gothic ornamentation. You willl see below three exercises with the capital “F”, capital "C" and the words “The Loop”.

We used different tools to write Fraktur: bamboo pens, feathers, ruling pens, brushes on fabric and flexible pens made of beer cans.

My final project is inspired by the Gothic alphabet of Marie de Bourgogne, circa 1480, taken from Fantastic Alphabets (L’Aventurine, Paris, 1995).

The content of the project is a section of the introduction to the book called Design Cult. 25 Essays on Graphic Design Culture by Steven Heller. Published by Design File, 2014.

Below you can read the content:

“Design is both cult and culture. On the one hand, designers, and particularly graphic designers, are a tribe of little understood yet much needed artists and artisans with their own rituals, lore and language. They also worship the same design gods (of which there are a few). On the other hand, designers routinely produce objects so essential to everyday life that some of what they make become cultural icons and iconography.”

Special thanks goes to Keith and Amanda Adams for sharing their incredible knowledge and personal time with us. It has been an honour.

Workshop location: Community of Saint Antoine l'Abbaye, France

Ornamental exercise. 5mm flat nib pen and expansion pen.

Exercise dedicated to The Loop for featuring my work several times.

Below you can read the content of the artwork:

“Design is both cult and culture. On the one hand, designers, and particularly graphic designers, are a tribe of little understood yet much needed artists and artisans with their own rituals, lore and language. They also worship the same design gods (of which there are a few). On the other hand, designers routinely produce objects so essential to everyday life that some of what they make become cultural icons and iconography.”