Kitching and the art of typography

摘要

Alan Kitching (1940, Darlington, UK) has elevated typography to a form of art by exploring the expressive potential of lettering. He challenges this discipline's compositional limitations with ingenuity and commitment, rediscovering an ancient technique while the rest of the world was chomping at the bit to move on. Today the art of typography is thriving once again, and Kitching is one of the people who can take for it. He is a visionary pioneer of paper embossing, who chose manual press machines over computer print, who preferred the tactile quality of wood and lead movable type pieces over the aseptic precision of digital composition. He started his career at 15 as an apprentice at J.W. Brown & Son. From there he moved on to Watford College of Technology, where he founded his first experimental workshop with Anthony Froshaug, who taught him respect for printing conventions while prompting him to develop a practice based on observation and innovation. In London, he became a partner at Dereck Birdsall's Omnific Studios in 1977, where he focused on paper-embossing techniques. At the dawn of the digital age, he decided to go against the stream and invested in types and presses, opening his Typography Workshop in Clerkenwell in 1989. Since then, there has been no looking back. His was a steady flow of commissions from the National Theatre, covers for The Guardian weekend magazine, and Royal Mail stamps. Finding a balance between technical experimentation and conceptual innovation, Kitching has designed books, magazines, billboards, and corporate identity for clients including The British Library, Dazed & Confused, Penguin Books, The Times, Random House and Tate Modern. His encounter with the designer and author Celia Stothard, whom he married, marked the beginning of a fruitful professional partnership. In 1994, Kitching was appointed Royal Designer for Industry and named member of Alliance Graphique Internationale. Recent work includes the letterpress graphics for Alan Bennett's AlMujah!, the For *U*K's salce stop Brexit poster, and Alan Kitching's A to Z of London, presented at London Art Fair 2019. Throughout the 50-plus years of his career, teaching has been a constant commitment (from 1991 to 2006 he taught at the Royal College of Art), inspiring generations of printers.