The artwork of illustrator and hand letterer Nate Williams is the subject of the second print in the Lustig Elements series for The Beauty of Letterpress by Neenah. Titled Nature is the Answer, the whimsical 11 x 14, letterpressed print pays homage to nature, William’s belief in the importance of staying connected to the simple things, and the Lustig Elements font.
I started collecting stationery as a kid in the 70’s. Back then the selection of available stationery was not nearly what it is today. I had a shoe box full of paper ephemera, most of it featuring the likes of Betsey Clark and Suzie Angel. I had no idea what went into producing these gems, I just knew I liked the cute characters and colors they featured. Fast forward forty years to the 2016 National Stationery Show and I found myself lucky enough to be a part of the NSS Class of 70 trading card promotion by Legion Paper – and I loved every single minute of it!
One of the things I enjoy most about working with designers is getting a behind the scenes look at the process of a project. Usually I enter into the process during the pre-production phase, after the design concept is complete and before specs go to printer for quote. It’s always a treat when I get to see a project come to life. The only time it’s more special is when it’s a passion project. A few weeks ago we shared the campaign to fund the development of the font, Lustig Elements, whose roots were born in the 1930s. Today, The Beauty of Letterpress by Neenah presents the Lustig Elements Collection, a remarkable new series of limited edition letterpress prints, commissioned in honor of notable design pioneers Alvin Lustig and Elaine Lustig Cohen.
The Lustig Elements Collection is available for purchase on The Beauty of Letterpress beginning today, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. This first installment of the collection includes four letterpress prints designed by Craig Welsh, of Go Welsh. Only 100 of each print were produced.
The Lustig Elements Collection gets its name from a typeface that modernist designer Alvin Lustig began to design in the 1930’s but never completed. Welsh, a design educator and award-winning designer based in Lancaster, PA, rediscovered the font and began a mission to revive it. Over a four-year period he worked closely with AIGA Medalist Elaine Lustig Cohen to bring the Lustig Elements font to life. The newly completed typeface was created for both wood type and a digital font.
I took geometry my sophomore year of high school, let’s just it wasn’t my strong suit. I suppose it could’ve had something to do with the the way in which it was taught. While my friends and I had fun in class, it certainly wasn’t due to the engaging nature of the subject. Now, had it been framed in the context of typography, with it’s letterforms and shapes, I’d have been all in. That type of inspiration was definitely not coming from Sr. Clement’s class. I’d have never guessed that one day I’d be smitten with a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of a font whose roots lay in the foundation of geometry, Lustig Elements. A font designed by Alvin Lustig in the 1930s known as Euclid is being revived as Lustig Elements by Craig Welsh and Elaine Lustig Cohen.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the conveniences of technology. The immediate gratification I get from the click of a mouse suits my impatient nature and life in the 21st century. But truth be told, I’m old school, my heart belongs to analog. Like many creatives, I’m smitten with the tactile nature of print, especially the techniques whose methods and tools of the trade remain largely unchanged. So I was thrilled when I saw the newest limited edition print added Neenah’s site, The Beauty of Letterpress: The Art of Making An Impression designed by Earl Gee.
TGIF for sure as we head into a much needed holiday weekend around here. It seems like the week leading up to a long weekend is always hectic. Deadlines get moved up and everyone’s trying to fit Monday’s workload in before they cut out early. For those that find themselves with a few minutes of downtime this weekend, here’s a recap of our weekly faves.
We’ve all heard the expression, you can’t judge a book by its cover. While this may be true, we can’t help but form an impression when we encounter something for the first time. This week I took a field trip to visit the Mohawk Paper mill in upstate New York. From the moment I pulled into the lot and saw the colorful Mohawk logo, an impression was formed and I knew I was in for something special. That opinion held true when I got to experience the new Mohawk Maker. From the moment I ran my hand across that neon orange marbleized pattern on the cover I was hooked, the new Mohawk Maker Quarterly makes quite an impression.
Singapore-based design and branding company Oddds recently completed a new project—rebranding themselves—in what they call “The New Anthropology.” Drawing from studies of humanity, culture, and design, Oddds has taken typography and iconography to a whole new level. The whole project is influenced by elements of mysticism and illusion; inspirations like the sea speak to the company’s clean aesthetic.
Last month I was having a discussion in my LinkedIn group regarding business card trends prompted by my previous blog post, Edge Painting is the New Black. A fellow member commented that 99% of his clients are looking to produce business cards in an efficient and inexpensive way, and most who do request a specialty print technique back off due to sticker shock. While I respect his expertise, I disagree that price alone is the reason for it. I noted that just a few years ago, the same could have been said for heavyweight, duplex business cards on premium papers. Then along came MOO.com – somehow they figured out a way to offer a well-produced, quadplex business card on a premium text and cover paper that was not only affordable but easily accessible to anyone. My hope was the same thing would happen with specialty print techniques. At the time I posted that comment, little did I know MOO was days away from launching a new product answering my request – MOO Letterpress, the feel of letterpress business cards made accessible and affordable.
The first time I visited Florence I suffered from Stendahl syndrome. No, I am not kidding. I was in the my early twenties and had never seen so much beauty in one place. It was overwhelming. The syndrome itself can cause rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion – even hallucinations in some people who experience something of enormous significance, mostly pertaining to art. If you’ve been following P&P you know my love of paper, but when it comes to the craft of print, especially letterpress, I am truly awestruck. With a collection of 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles of sizes and patterns, The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. I’m fairly certain if I ever visit the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum I’d surely suffer a relapse. So when I received the final limited edition Hamilton Wood Type specimen sheets from Appleton Coated you can understand why I got a little dizzy.