I met Swiss poster printer and typographer Dafi Kühne only one time, over a year ago, when he brought an offering to Poster House NYC. It was an image so grand (and awesome) in its ambition that I still find it hard to describe in words. So this video will have to do the job for me.
Now that you’ve seen the video, read Kühne’s pitch for his annual type and printing workshop. He writes: “Stop believing in the illusion of bad typography! For 2024, Typographic Printing Program breaks the typographic hallucination, daydreaming and misinformation and brings you the full analog phantasma and disillusion.” I happen to devour “analog phantasmas,” so this is the program I’d attend if I could.
The goal of the two-week summer intensive in Switzerland is to bridge the gap between analog design and production tools and professional contemporary typographic posters. Participants will go through a number of analog tasks to experience the qualities of simple type-only layouts. All the experiments and exercises will be realized with traditional letterpress printing presses and physical type. “Through this very slow but accurate analog process, the participants will learn to put emphasis on concept and micro typography,” he promises.
After a rigorous design process, the participants will each produce a typographic letterpress poster printed with a variety of production tools, such as wood and metal type, chipboard, lasercut mdf, linoleum, hand-cast Ludlow type slugs, and many more. Kühne’s goal is that the analog work will easily translate to the contemporary design practice for the benefit of the participants’ future careers.
He currently offers two slots: June 23–July 6, and July 28–Aug. 10. Learn more here and here.
And here are some previous posters:
