Letterform Archive Launches Kickstarter Campaign
SAN FRANCISCO—Letterform Archive has launched a crowd-funding campaign to publish its 2014 Letterforms & Birthdays wall calendar. The campaign is hosted by Kickstarter and can be seen at: http://bit.ly/lettarccal.
The calendar is 12¾ x 13”, printed in five colors on 80 lb. Sappi Flo Dull cover stock and wire bound. Each month features a large, high-fidelity, full-color image of a page or spread from a rare masterwork of letter arts. Featured artists include A. M. Cassandre, Edward Johnston, Francisco Palomares, Rudo Spemann, Piet Zwart, William Addison Dwiggins, Will Bradley, Paul Renner, Ben Shahn, Rudy VanderLans, Ladislav Sutnar, and Filippo Marinetti. A gallery of all twelve images may be accessed at http://letterformarchive.org/calendar-2014/.
The calendar also publishes the first ever list of birthdays of important practitioners, totaling over 240 scribes, type designers, typographers, printers, writing-masters, lettering artists, and graphic designers.
Certain pledge levels include a set of twelve postcards featuring the same images as the calendar. Additionally, every backer receives a download link for 12 monthly wallpapers (computer desktop images) of the same masterworks.
The “Early Bird” purchase price of $20 is limited to the first 500 backers. The two highest pledge levels entitle backers to a small-group lunch or dinner at Letterform Archive with a viewing of the collection, in addition to calendars, postcards, and wallpapers.
The Kickstarter funding campaign ends November 19, after which production commences. Calendars will be mailed out in early December, in time for the New Year.
Commenting on the project, calendar designer, birthday list compiler, and Archive Curator Rob Saunders said, “Our aim for the calendar was that it show off the strengths and scope of the collection. The result is an eclectic showcase of lesser-known works by well-known figures in the letter arts. We are so grateful for the encouragement Letterform Archive is receiving, because we hope this will be the first of many projects bringing our unique content to the printed page.” Rob Saunders has been a calligrapher, graphic designer, publisher, educator, and consultant, as well as an avid collector.
Letterform Archive is a physical and digital archive of material related to typography, lettering, and design. The collection includes over 7,000 books, 5,000 pieces of ephemera, and 1,500 volumes of periodicals, including manuscripts and original artwork, proofs and posters. The digital Archive is at http://www.letterformarchive.org, where emphasis is placed on capturing the tactile aesthetics of the artifacts, not only digitizing what’s on the surface.
