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Signpainter Documentary
When Better Letters met ... Josef Samuel, Vienna’s Last Signpainter
Vienna-based graphic designer Tom Koch teamed up with Better Letters to produce the second in their series of biopics about veteran sign painters. This short film celebrates the life and times of Vienna’s last sign painter, Josef Samuel.
Mumbai Taxi Art
Sameer Mistry, artist with a fine blade
In 2009, the magazine Creative Review appeared with a cover that brought sudden attention in the West to an art form that had hitherto remained almost entirely unknown: the ornate typographic embellishments adorning Mumbai’s kaali peeli taxis. A decade later, I set out in search of the artists behind these “Mumbai Typo Taxis,” seeking to discover what, if anything, has endured of their once resplendent decorations.
Albert Cuyp Markt, Amsterdam
The Market Signpainter: Henry van der Horst
A November morning at the Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam. The distinctive style of the price signs at many stalls immediately catches the eye. Responsible for them is the market signwriter Henry van der Horst, who has been producing hand-lettered price cards for nearly four decades.
The Verein Stadtschrift in Vienna
The Typographic DNA of the City
Television repair, photographic studios, taverns: not only the design of the lettering itself, but also the services once advertised by these signs now appear curiously antiquated. Yet it is neither nostalgia nor a longing for a “better past” that motivates the association Stadtschrift, which collects, preserves, and reintroduces these Viennese signages into the public realm.