Design History

A Remarkable Typeface Resurfaces from the Thames After Being Dumped in the River More than a Century Ago

In 18th- and 19th-century London, the term mudlark was coined to describe someone who scavenged river banks for valuable items. Today, metal detectors aid in the continuing pastime—which now requires a permit—and every once in a while, a modern-day mudlark dredges up a striking discovery. Ten years ago, for type enthusiast Robert Green, a once-in-a-lifetime find emerged from the Thames.

Rewinding to the early 2000s, Green was in art school and became fascinated by Doves Type. The more he studied it, the more entranced he became by its idiosyncratic characteristics and the creators’ devotion to “pure” design. He began to meticulously digitize the font family.

The origins of Doves can be traced to T.J. Cobden-Sanderson—who has been credited with coining the term “arts and crafts”—and Emery Walker, who founded Doves Press together in Hammersmith in 1900. “For a typeface, they returned to Renaissance Italian books, but with the intention, however, of producing a set of letters that looked lighter on the page than their sources,” says a statement from the Emery Walker Trust. “The aesthetic vision was largely Cobden–Sanderson’s, who believed in ‘The Book Beautiful.’ Exteriors were stark white vellum with gold spine lettering; inside there were no illustrations.”

 

By 1909, the pair’s business partnership formally dissolved, but Doves Press continued without Walker’s participation. In a short film produced by the BBC in 2015, Green describes the breakdown as a result of “pragmatism versus obsession.” Walker was a practical-minded printer and Cobden-Sanderson, a perfectionist.

In March 1917, Cobden-Sanderson declared publicly that Doves Press was closed, and its type had been “dedicated & consecrated” to the River Thames. “Nobody actually quite got it,” Green says. “And Cobden-Sanderson writes a letter to the solicitor saying, ‘No, I wasn’t talking figuratively. The type is gone.'” He didn’t want Walker to have access—or anyone else, for that matter.

Remarkably, Cobden-Sanderson recorded in his journals the exact date and location that he dumped the type into the water, which took him 170 trips to discard in its entirety. With each load weighing around 15 to 20 pounds, that’s a lot of metal. For 98 years, the type remained on the riverbed, much of it washed away over the decades or sunken into the silt as the tidal flow continually rose and fell.

 

In 2014, Green traced Cobden-Sanderson’s steps and began to poke around beneath the bridge to see if, by chance, any pieces remained. Miraculously, within a few minutes, a single letter “v” appeared among the pebbles. Then, a couple more. He knew he was on to something, so he contacted the Port of London Authority to enlist scuba divers and some buckets and sieves.

Among the search team was Jason Sandy, an architect and member of the Society of Thames Mudlarks, who found 12 pieces and donated them to Emery Walker’s House, a beautiful example of Arts and Crafts architecture maintained by the trust as a private museum. He also co-curated the current exhibition, Mudlarking: Unearthing London’s Past, a highlight of which is a complete alphabet of Doves Type, shown for the first time as a whole.

When the search concluded, Green and the team recovered a total of 151 sorts, or individual pieces of type, out of a possible 500,000. Green has a hunch that, deep down, Cobden-Sanderson didn’t want the type to disappear into ultimate obscurity, or he wouldn’t have detailed exactly where he had thrown it. And while the group recovered only a tiny fraction of the overall set, the find connected enthusiasts to a precise moment in history and allowed Green to further fine-tune his digitized version.

Mudlarking: Unearthing London’s Past continues through May 30.

 

Art Craft Design

Salvaged Scraps of Wood Nest Together in Richard Haining’s Elegant Curved Vessels

In the late aughts, Richard Haining began salvaging leftover wood. While working for a set design company, he realized that the sizable waste generated was also an untapped opportunity for his personal projects. “What I did not have in the way of disposable income, I did have in the way of access to tons of scrap materials,” he says. “I couldn’t afford purchasing new materials to create the ideas I had in my head, but I could take smaller scraps and use those as building blocks.”

Armed with quarter-inch hunks of plywood pulled from the dumpster, Haining realized the first vessel in his ongoing STACKED series. The Brooklyn-based artist shapes each curvy form by gluing together each rung piece by piece, which lets him adjust the wall thickness and final profile as he works. “Imagine coil pottery…or an analog version of 3-D printing,” he adds, likening the process to ceramics. Once the shape is complete, he uses an angle grinder and various hand tools—but not a lathe—to smooth the surface and allow the individual grains to shine through.

Whether a tall amphora with a skinny neck and handles or a squat, bulbous vase, the works highlight the wood’s unique textures and colors arranged in intuitively laid patterns. And, using scraps also means that Haining’s sculptures bear the marks of past wear. “Water and mineral stains, contrasting heartwood and sapwood, knots, century-old nail and beetle holes, these ‘defects’ are part of that lumber’s history, a fingerprint of time since passed,” he says.

In addition to the vessels, the STACKED series extends to furniture, lamps, chandeliers, mirrors, and other functional designs. Haining often has several projects in the works, and you can follow the latest on Instagram.

 

Art Craft Design

Fare Meets Function in Eléonore Joulin’s Gourmet Ceramic Lamps and Vases

Eléonore Joulin casts humble foods in a fresh light with her gastronomic collection of ceramic goods. From her studio in Brussels, the artist layers crinkled cabbage leaves into a vegetal dwelling and twists a long sausage into a sculptural, worm-like shape. She outfits many forms with a bulb and cord, turning a wedge of blue cheese or a big pickle into a functional design.

Most works begin with experimentation as Joulin explores the possibilities of a particular metallic oxide or other chemical compound. “For instance, titanium is unstable and iron is very coloring and the combination of (those) two oxide(s) gives a wide range of beige to brown, which was the start of exploring the texture of bread,” she shares. This specific research is on the artist’s mind at the moment as she searches for the proper glaze for a French brioche.

If you’re in Paris, stop by La Corvée after June 7 to see Joulin’s sculptures in a group show. Otherwise, find more of her designs on Instagram. You might also enjoy these grain-based designs.

 

Art History

In ‘The Order of Things,’ Wim Delvoye’s Playful Installations Reimagine a Museum’s Historical Collection

In 1802, Italian sculptor Antonio Canova produced a marble sculpture known as “Venus Italica,” notably commissioned by Napoléon Bonaparte and intended to replace another Venus statue at the Louvre in Paris. Among numerous other historic statues and artifacts at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, the “Venus Italica” provides the foundation for an artistic intervention by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye.

As part of an ongoing program called carte blanche XL, MAH invited the artist-curator to reimagine the institution’s displays, asking the fundamental question: “How does one make sense of the abundance of objects, documents, artifacts, and all the evidence of artistic and practical activities that form the cultural sedimentation of the place?” Delvoye’s response came in the form of The Order of Things, a large-scale exhibition in several of the museum’s galleries.

 

Delvoye is known for his inventive use of materials, painstaking craftsmanship, and experimentation with technology. He often traverses the blurry boundary between traditional art methodology and today’s digital realm. For this show, the artist was tasked with selecting objects from the collection, including items that may not have been recently highlighted, and building connections between past and present.

Throughout the exhibition, Delvoye tugs on themes of protection—intrinsic in a museum’s mission—in pieces like “Rimowa Classic Flight Multiwheel 971.70.00.4,” a metallic rolling suitcase, or a series of velvet-lined, bespoke carriers like “Case for Moped,” which perfectly fits a motorized bike. And in a series of embossed aluminum works, he draws on artifacts like a 16th-century engraved steel morion, or helmet, in “Untitled (Engraved Helmet),” which depicts an elaborate metallic hard hat.

Delvoye also plays with irony in both written and visual language, like in “La peur du vide,” or “the fear of emptiness,” in which the shell of a vintage race car sits among arrangements of historical armor. And in more than one instance, classical sculptures like “Venus Italica” are transformed into ball tracks, a pun on the idea of “historic marbles.”

The Order of Things continues through June 16. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

 

Sponsor

IED Firenze Graphic Design Student Explores Cultural Fusion and Exchange Through Bilingual Signage in Prato’s Chinatown

Amidst the cobblestone streets of Chinatown in Prato, Italy, typography has become a bridge between worlds. Beatrice Murphy, a student in the Master’s Course in Graphic Design at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) Firenze, developed her thesis project by examining and dissecting the bilingual signage of Prato’s Chinatown. Her project aimed to not only reveal numbers and data but also instances of human connection and diversity.

 

Through a series of booklets and graphic materials, Beatrice transports us into the bustling streets of the neighborhood and its storefronts. Each page of her graphic research offers a glimpse into the soul of her hometown, capturing the daily rhythm of life in photographs and an archive of insights and infographics.

In Prato’s Chinatown, tradition intertwines with innovation and Chinese typography converges with the Italian language in dazzling displays of visual creativity. Beatrice categorized and transcribed more than 90 bilingual store signs, adopting a taxonomic font-based system. Her project is intended to illuminate the intricate dance between these two distinct cultures, celebrating the richness and complexity of Prato’s multicultural identity.

 

The booklets are bound together by a symbolic red thread—a nod to Prato’s textile heritage—inviting readers to contemplate the interconnectedness of cultures and how diversity enriches our collective experience.

In this graphic exploration of language, signage, and cultural exchange, Beatrice hopes to remind us of the power of human connection and the beauty of diversity in our increasingly interconnected world—a narrative that speaks to the universal longing for understanding and belonging.

 

Graphic design has transcended its traditional boundaries, becoming a powerful tool to promote inclusivity and diversity. As the media landscape continues to evolve, so does the responsibility of graphic designers to ensure that their work reflects and embraces the richness and complexity of human experiences.

Beatrice Murphy created her work through the Master’s Course in Graphic Design at IED Firenze. Now in its 13th edition, the program works with international students every year to develop unique narratives and study visual languages in a global setting. It hopes to offer a sensitive space for students to communicate their perspectives on important social matters and engage within the current landscape of the graphic design community.

To learn more about the Master’s Course in Graphic Design at IED Firenze, visit ied.edu.

 

Art

Kaleidoscopic Paintings by Sarah Helen More Pulse with Vibrant Energy

Textile design and the visual language of quilting shine through in Sarah Helen More’s paintings. Her kaleidoscopic works pair various geometric and botanical motifs in patchworks of flat graphic color. Emitting a joyful, meditative energy, the vivid compositions directly tie to the artist’s childhood memories and experiences.

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, More was exposed to her mother’s quilting practice and her father’s vast geology collection, and she fuses the two in her works, as organic imagery melds with stripes and bold blocks of color. Now inspired by her daily walks around her home in Seattle, the artist often begins with a photograph or sketch before translating the patterns to the canvas. “My work has always been a place of solace for me—a place where I ruminate on life events and escape into an abstract reality that brings comfort and exhilaration,” she adds.

More has some paintings available through Garvey|Simon, and you can find more of her practice on Instagram.