Type Specimens: A Berlin Miscellany

In February 2010 New Zealand graphic designer Tana Mitchell, then resident in Berlin, discovered an expansive collection of letterpress type in the basement of the Druckwerkstatt im Kulturwerk des BBK. Dusty, neglected and mostly unused, the BBK letterpress type collection consists of a vast and incomprehensible collection of metal and wooden letterpress type. Often unlabelled and incomplete, the collection comprised various fonts, from 6point and up, with a range of decorative & display typefaces. The Druckwerkstatt im Kulturwerk des BBK has a fully functioning printing press and with this Mitchell began printing, accounting for and making sense of the collection, with her own somewhat arbitrary methodology. Likening her activity to that of an entomologist in the field, the BBK typographic collection became the habitat from which Mitchell gathered her specimens.

Restricting the specimens to 18 point and above, she began with A, working alphabetically through to Z. The resulting suite of prints, each capturing a single letter in various forms, offers a visual rather than a linear logic. Each letter, and subsequently each font, is removed from its taxonomic register - detached from its own internal logic. The suite, and individual prints, are unconcerned with dating, naming or contextualising each font, but attempt to graphically present them as visual forms. Aside from the logic of having a specific letter of the alphabet on each print, each composition was dictated by the type - how the variety of forms and characteristics could fit together - piece by piece like a puzzle. Each print contains both differing and recurring typefaces, with the same fonts emerging at regular intervals. The result is a suite of type specimens from A to Z.

In the process of making and souveniring, Mitchell made her own typographical collection and this suite is a resource for her own typographic research. The making of these works offered a way of spending time with letter forms, of having a physical connection to them, of manoeuvring them in physical space. This suite is a collection from which she is able to glean and gather typographic ideas.

Objectspace’s Vault Programme features distinctive works from private collections. Objectspace is keen to work with private collectors to enable them to share their collections and enthusiasms on a short term basis. Objectspace acknowledges the generosity of Tana Mitchell.

Image: Tana Mitchell, Type Specimen: G, 2010. Courtesy Tana Mitchell Collection.

Event listed by objectspace

View their other events or contact promoter