Kessler Display

Kessler Display In Use

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  Christopher Anderson (b. 1970) is an American photographer and member of Magnum Photos. Two-time winner of the World Press Photo award, he first got known for his pictures from zones of armed conflict like Afghanistan and Iraq. The project shown here, however, stems from a different, artistic vein of the author. The series Odyssey takes us on a poetic ride through black-and-white images on the threshold between the real and the imaginary. While depicting human figures and landscapes, they take a step into graphic abstraction. On the occasion of their exhibition, Stanley/Barker, a London-based publisher specializing in photo books, issued the pictures in a limited edition of 750 hand numbered copies. It is luxurious in its format, the printing quality, the paper and the layout: each spread is only used on one side. This way each photograph gets its own, ample space. The whole book only contains few words and thus little typography. But the choice is remarkable. The typeface used is Kessler, designed by Alaric Garnier and published by Production Type. Its name refers to Harry Count Kessler, a pivotal figure around 1900 who linked the British Arts and Crafts Movement to the part of the German scene that strived for artistic renewal. It was Kessler who gave the 23-year-old Eric Gill* one of his first commissions, the calligraphic design of titles for his Großherzog Wilhelm Ernst Ausgabe of German classics. Alaric Garnier stumbled upon Gill’s first sketches for this alphabet in a 1958 issue of the Monotype Recorder (pdf) and picked up on it in 2013. Over the course of four years, he amended the Kessler typeface with lowercase letters, extended it into different size-specific cuts, and added italics. Today, Kessler is a comprehensive serif family with sixteen styles for applications ranging from Text to Super Display. *) Production Type is conscious of the contentious aspect of publishing a work that is in some way connected to child rapist Eric Gill. While we believe Production Type addresses design needs for discerning users, we also want to be held accountable for our choices. For this reason, proceeds of Kessler’s licensing are transferred to L’Enfant Bleu, an association providing protection, care, and information to children victims of ill-treatment. Creating a virtuous cycle, both chronologically and economically, is what we aspire in making Kessler available for licensing.

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  Kessler Display Italic

  Odyssey by Christopher Anderson
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  Florae is an exhibition organized by Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris. It takes place from the 10th of September to the 14th of November 2021. The brand invited the famous Japanese photographer and film director Mika Ninagawa for a carte blanche that would relate the brand’s famous floral jewelry with her saturated and colorful imagery. Ninagawa’s work is full with colors, natural patterns and, of course, floral settings: the world of Van Cleef & Arpels is transformed into this girly pop universe, shedding a new light on its key pieces. The exhibition is structured into three parts, each one presenting a different approach of the craft of jewelry: naturalist aesthetics, bouquets, and stylized aesthetic. The scenography of the exhibition was designed by Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane, founder of the studio ATTA in Paris. He conceived an immersive setting based on light and mirrors: for example, some panels displaying Ninagawa’s photographs would suddenly fade and the image vanish to turn into the reflexive glass of a mirror. This dream-like labyrinth makes the visitor feel like Alice in Wonderland. Besides, the exhibition takes place in the Hôtel d’Évreux, a former mansion house in the center of Paris: the Hôtel is a treasure of classical architecture, which identifies Van Cleef & Arpels as a luxury brand. No wonder that Kessler from Production Type was chosen for the exhibition logo. Even though Kessler is inspired by stone-carving and inscriptional typefaces, its thin upstrokes and serifs, the unusual proportion of its capital R and its very much recognizable A also evoke typefaces and publications from the Ashendene Press and more widely, from the Arts & Crafts movement, and their margins saturated with floral patterns. Accompanying text on poster, invitation and other items is set in Gotham.

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  Kessler Display Regular

  Florae, Van Cleef & Arpels

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