• Workshop

The workshop with the calligrapher James Clough offered a unique experience to understand the origins of the morphology of the Roman type and to learn some basic notions of type design.

The most significant of all Roman types was planned and engraved by Griffo and printed by Manutius for De Aetna in 1496. In Paris, more than forty years later, the same type was copied by Claude Garamond and other engravers and was circulated throughout Europe. Today there are no graphic signs that are more normal and familiar to our eyes. That type, engraved by the highly skilled hands of Griffo, is the most durable of the gifts of the Italian Renaissance to the world. We can still find it, exactly as it was, in our books and on the Internet.

16 hours / Program:

• Presentation of the epigraphic evolution of capital letters and of the calligraphic evolution of small letters and of the transition from humanistic writing to the Roman type
• Calligraphy exercise to learn the correct progression of the light and dark traits of letters
• Exploration and experimentation, through pencil drawing, of the sensual qualities and of the beauty of the De Aetna letters
• Copyng an aphorism by pencil, as a typographic image

 In collaboration with: Associazione Calligrafica Italiana