ATypI, Helsinki, Finland / September 18, 2005

I live at the edge of the universe: Refreshing the connection between the environment and typography

by Ben Weiner, Helsinki, Finland

Catherine Griffiths showed us her work in Wellington, NZ, where excerpts from literature that makes reference to the city have been used to make a writers walk that “adds intellect to the waterfront”. From the images she showed, it is clear that the works she designed, as concrete slabs about 2m by 2m in size, have a dignity that very much lives up to her belief that a functional material can be used to create objects that are beautiful.

Griffiths specified letters that either project by almost their own height from the surface of the slab, or that are deeply let into it. She used a condensed sans serif for the projecting letters and Optima for the inlet ones, all in capitals. These choices are interesting, as they are neither “proper” monumental lettering (having been designed to be typeset) nor are they book typefaces. So they don’t fully connect with the context of the slabs (large rectangular lumps of concrete in incongruous settings above or below the water’s surface, or standing on edge at the waterfront). Neither do they form an allusive link with the printed books from which the quotes have been taken. Instead, the letterforms succeed simply by being the right ones to use. They look right: neither too monumental nor too close to seeming like large reproductions of book pages.

A more recent brief was to wrap the top storey of a new modernist house in a poem. This was accomplished with a glass “skin” covering the building. Again the typeface Optima was used, but instead of setting long lines in caps of the same size, the text size was heavily modulated and the engraved letters formed, from the inside at least, a way to cast interesting shadows within the building or provide an unusual from for the landscape views outside.

We were introduced to this project after seeing some of Griffiths’ influences: since being a child she has enjoyed travelling through the beautiful wild landscapes of New Zealand, a lush environment which exerted a calming influence even when seen as slides in a lecture hall!

Griffiths trained in graphic design and worked as a designer of books and magazines, at first in Europe where she met members of the fashion set such as John Galliano and graphic designers such as Wolfgang Weingart. She brings a particular quality to her projects which seems to reflect greater humility of temperament than these “stars”. She showed a book of her husband’s photographs on which she collaborated, as well as one on New Zealand’s modernist architecture. It is clear that working with others has made her appreciate the ways in which people work on the design problems they are set, something which informed her in carrying out the writers walk project. Both projects had a rightness, maturity and sensuality about them that made for very satisfying viewing.

END