Typeface a documentary film about origins of modern type design, the Hamilton Wood Type Museum struggling to house the history, and the popular resurgence of letterpress in the midwest directed by Justine Nagan and produced by Kartemquin Films. Typeface does a great job of showing the creation and process of block and letterpress printing from start to finish. In many ways I think that this movie exists to not only inform but to inspire the viewer to support and take part in the practice and appreciation of a faded but not dead artform. Teachers like Dennis Ichiyama, a professor of graphic design at Purdue University are working to keep the passion alive.
After watching this movie in its entirety I have to say it was really a bag of mixed emotions. Towards the end there I found myself thinking "there's no way they would end the movie like this". Well... they did save for the few quick updates on the former museum curator and worker. In a way it leaves you to think about the fate of the Hamilton Wood Type Museum and that just maybe we can help or at least have the respect to remember where the typography we use as graphic designers originated that we now so often take for granted.
Its great to see collectives like the Post Family working to keep letter press alive in Chicago and obviously local great likes Hammer Press here in Kansas City.
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