For New York-based font fanatics, next month’s Century: 100 Years of Type in Design exhibition is sure to be one of the standout events of the year.As Part of AIGA’s Centennial Celebration, Monotype and Pentagram are to present an exhibition that explores the history, and future, of type design at the AIGA National Design Center in New York City.
Century: 100 Years of Type in Design
will offer “rare works and unique artefacts to view and experience”, explains James Fooks-Bale, Monotype’s creative director and co-curator of Century. “We are fortunate to have participation from some of the brightest designers, museum curators, disruptive thinkers and creative directors from museums, publishing houses and design companies around the world.”
The exhibition will feature work from numerous British and American organisations, including Monotype, AIGA, Pentagram, Mohawk Paper, The Type Directors Club, Condé Nast, Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, The Type Archive, The Herb Lubalin Study Center at Cooper Union, Alan Kitching and The Museum of Printing.
Pentagram partner Abbott Miller is the brains behind the display: “We wanted to create an immersive environment that communicates the diversity of typographic form: the walls and ceilings are dotted with hundreds of typographic periods drawn from the Monotype library."
A highlight of the show is sure to be the Alan Kitching-curated showcase of five graphic design legends born in 1914: Tom Eckersley, Abram Games, F H K Henrion, Josef Müller-Brockmann and Paul Rand. Kitching is also creating five limited edition letterpress printed posters which will fold down into Monotype’s collections format.
Running concurrently with the exhibition, a series of related workshops called “Century Expanded” will take place at the Type Directors Club and the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography at Cooper Union in New York City.
Century: 100 Years of Type in Design
AIGA National Design Center, New York City
1 May - June 18 2014
aiga.org/century-exhibition