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Behind some of the most recognizable iconography in the world, from American presidential campaign logos to New York City subway signage and Apple keycaps, is one Swiss designer and a textbook he published in 1949. Youve probably never heard of either. Walter Käch was a calligrapher and educator at the Zürich School of Arts and Crafts in the late 30s and 40s. During this time, he published a simple manual, called Lettering, which laid out his approach to crafting letterforms, letting students learn about proper technique and trace and copy letters directly inside the book. Experts have credited Lettering for popularizing the idea of type families and directly inspiring the creation of Univers and Helvetica, two of the worlds most famous typefaces. Over time, Kächs contributions have largely been overshadowed by those of his students. Now, theres a team working to fix that. This week, the first modern reprint of Lettering was published through a collaboration between Dinamo type foundry, the Museum für Gestaltung in Zürich, and the graphic design firm Omnigroup. For the designers behind the reprint, its a passion project thats been more than six years in the making. [Photo: Michelle Mantel/courtesy Dinamo Editions] The book that inspired Helvetica Fabian Harb is the cofounder and head of type design at Dinamo. He discovered Lettering while studying at the Basel School of Design, where he learned that, despite being printed in an extremely limited run (likely between 500 and 1,000 copies), Kächs manual has had resounding ripple effects on how typefaces are designed today. [Käch] really went about type design in a quite broad way, Harb says. If you look through the manual, it’s not just sans serifs; it’s also about serifs, its also about script typefaces. Back in those years, there wasn’t a lot of teaching material around, so this being such a proper folder, I’m 100% sure it traveled and people that were teaching in other places also drew from the same material. [Photo: Simon Merz/courtesy Dinamo Editions] Letterings holistic approach to type design represents one of the first true explorations of a versatile type familyor a cohesive system of fonts with various weights and orientationswhich is the standard in todays industry, where most new typefaces come with eight to 10 different weights. Käch also directly inspired his student, Adrian Frutiger, to conceptualize the typeface Univers in 1957. Univers is now one of the most influential typefaces of all time, appearing everywhere from George W. Bushs two campaign logos to some of Apples early keycaps and the UNICEF logo. Likewise, the font Helvetica (the basis of NYC’s subway signs) is believed to pull direct inspiration from Kächs work. [Photo: Michelle Mantel/courtesy Dinamo Editions] Theres a direct connection to Univers and Helvetica, which are typefaces that just became so big, so visible, and so influential up until today, Harb says. Designers definitely know Univers, and Helvetica is probably known even to people that dont have anything to do with graphic design. Helvetica is so closely connected to Käch, but nobody knows about him. [Photo: Simon Merz/courtesy Dinamo Editions] Reprinting an iconic text The idea to issue a reprint of Lettering came as Harb learned more about the text for himself. In school, Harb discovered that copies of the manual are considered rare and precious, and those that are available in Switzerland are mostly held by libraries that dont allow them to be checked out. Meanwhile, designers interested in owning their own copies often found themselves in intense bidding wars on eBay, as those “in the know” on the manual’s influence jostled to secure a version for their collections. [Photo: Simon Merz/courtesy Dinamo Editions] It was a little bit of a sport to check the eBay and see, Okay, is a copy coming up? Harb says. Then everybody would bid on it, and basically whoever had the most money would get it. Very often it went for crazy prices, especially as a studentlike somewhere like 250 and 350 Swiss francs. Due to the manuals interactive nature, nearly all surviving copies of Lettering tend to be in poor condition. People worked with them, a lot was traced in them,” Harb explains. “You can see that sometimes, people drew their own guidelines to figure out the proportions. [Photo: Simon Merz/courtesy Dinamo Editions] Finally, in 2014, Harb’s type foundry Dinamo was able to secure its own copy of Lettering through his connection with the Basel School of Design. The acquisition began a years long exploration of Kächs work for Harb, starting when he designed a custom typeface inspired by Kächs core teachings called Walter Alte. When Walter Alte was used in a contemporary art exhibition, the publicity led Leonardo Azzolini and Simon Mager, cofounders of Omnigroup, to connect with Harb over their shared interest in Kächs work. Together, the three created another Käch-inspired typefacethis time translated for a digital agecalled Walter Neue. Both Walter Alte and Walter Neue were officially published in 2022. As Harb, Azzolini, and Mager dedicated months to closely studying Kächs principles, they realized that the rest of the design community should have access to this resource, too. So, they joined forces with the Museum für Gestaltung on a new reprint of Lettering, a project that took another three years to complete. [Photo: Michelle Mantel/courtesy Dinamo Editions] The 2025 reprint of the manual, designed by Omnigroup and co-published by the Museum für Gestaltung, is made to come as close to the original as possible. All of the text, Harb says, has been copied one to one. And, just like the trailblazing 1949 text, the new version of Lettering allows todays generation of type designers to trace directly in the book itself. The book is now available online for 48, a far cry from the cutthroat prices on eBay. Still, Harb says, anyone with an interest in type design should get the chance to look at one of Kächs original manuals at least once. [The reprint] is very similar to the original, Harb says. But if you ever have the chance to see the original, youll see that it has a richness of materiality that, in todays world, is almost impossible to recreate.
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The Postwar design phenomenon known as mid-century modernism has been backand thrivingfor years now. In addition to a steady stream of new products from major retailers that cash in on the clean curves of the past, people continue to buy originals, reissues, and knockoffs of icons like the Eames Lounge Chair in droves. But if theres one person Id wager loves it just a bit more than the rest of us, its journalist Dominic Bradbury. In the wake of his tomes Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces and Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses, today Bradbury is back with another book: Mid-Century Modern Designers, a hulking A to Z chronicle of 300 design pioneers known and unknown. [Photo: courtesy Phaidon] I do write about contemporary design and contemporary architecture as well, Bradbury says. But I have become slightly obsessive and fixated on this period. I just find it so exciting and so inspiring in lots of different ways. Naturally, it was thus more difficult for Bradbury to stop at 300 designers than it was for him to reach 300 in the first place. His initial list comprised some 450500 names, and he whittled it down using a number of criteria. He and the publisher wanted an international focus and a diversity of disciplines, with a particular focus on those designing for home or personal use. They also wanted a mix of big names like the Eameses, Alvar Aalto, and Lina Bo Bardi, as well as more obscure designers who played a critical role in the movement. What I find really exciting about doing these kind of big, research-led books, is you’ll always discover something new, Bradbury says of resurfacing lesser-known talents. To that end, on the eve of the books publication, we asked Bradbury to select his top five forgotten mid-century Moderns who helped define their era. Their work speaks to the question of who gets remembered and who gets left in the pastand perhaps also shines a light on why the world still cant seem to get enough mid-century modernism at large. It’s such an extraordinary period of innovation and excitement and so many ideasand just also this really incredibly optimistic feeling, which I think we’re probably all in need of at the moment, says Bradbury. Yrjo Kukkapuro [Photo: courtesy Phaidon] Yrjö Kukkapuro (19332025) The Finnish Kukkapuro used to sit in the snow to study the shape of the human body as he was working on his best-known piece, the 1964 Karuselli (carousel) Chair, according to Bradbury. Kukkapuro later covered himself in chicken wire to create a plaster mold of himself reclining, all of which played into the final design of the reclining swivel chair. He was one of the early masters of ergonomics, Bradbury notes. The chair found fame when it landed on the cover of architectural and design magazine Domus in 1966. Its production continues to this day, although Kukkapuro is often overlooked in lieu of more famous Finnish designers, such as Alvar Aalto. When you’re going around Scandinavia, you sometimes see these chairs in hotel lobbies and things like that, Bradbury says. They’ve become a bit of an icon. Nanna Ditzel [Photo: courtesy Phaidon] Nanna Ditzel (19232005) You may not know the Danish Ditzel by name, but youve probably seen her most famous workor copies of itwhich she designed with her husband, Jrgen Ditzel: the 1957 Hanging Egg Chair. It is also still in production today, like many of her creations. I really admire her for her combination of craftsmanship and organic materiality, Bradbury says, adding that while other egg chairs of the period might have been created using fiberglass or other solutions, the Ditzels used natural wickerspinning an expressive take on traditional materials in a modern context. Thanks to such decisions, as Bradbury notes in his book, Ditzel offered an engaging version of warm Modernism. While Ditzel may not be mentioned in the same breath as other master Midcentury Scandinavian designer, Bradbury says that like many on this list, her work is being rediscovered as people search archives for pieces that could be suitable for reissue or collection today. Borge Mogensen [Photo: courtesy Phaidon] Brge Mogensen (1914-1972) Mogensen trained under Kaare Klint, the father of modern Danish furniture design. Bradbury says a major part of Klints approach was making sure one understood traditionand that carried over to his protégés output. Mogensen’s work [features] this combination of looking to the past and looking to the future at the same time, says Bradbury. So he would take traditional forms of furniture, like a hunting chair, and then reinterpret them in this sort of modern idiom. That yielded such pieces as the 1950 Hunting Chair and his 1958 Spanish Chaircreations that make one ponder the broader question of why some designers get overlooked in mid-century modern history at large. Bradbury says one key part of the equation is whether or not a designer’s work took off internationallylike, say, Finn Juhls did in the U.S. and Asia. Another major factor Bradbury is mulling at the moment: How designers were (or were not) embraced by the media, and how they promoted themselves. (The mid-century era is kind of when that started becoming more and more important, he says.) He says the Scandinavians were adept at it, and they would band together to do shows and exhibitions to get eyes on their workand as a result, many left a lasting impression in mid-century Modernism to this day. This contradicts the British mid-century modern designers below. John and Sylvia Reid [Photo: courtesy Phaidon] John & Sylvia Reid (19251992; 19242022) While many mid-century modernists are known for their high-end output, the married Reids became ubiquitous for their lower-priced furniture designs from the U.K. stalwart Stag Furniture. The Reids bedroom collections targeted young couples, who could buy a set or a piece at a time. They were very popular lines in the U.K. during the Postwar period, Bradbury says. Their furniture was beautifully designed, well-made, but quite affordable. Like Charles and Ray Eames, they werent limited to furniture, and were wildly talented multidisciplinary designers who also worked in lighting and graphic design. Unlike the Eameses, they didnt receive an enduring acclaim that persists to this day. Sergio Rodrigues [Photo: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images] Sergio Rodrigues (19272014) Bradbury started to notice a pattern when working on his book New Brazilian House. We just kept seeing these amazing pieces of furniturebeautiful mid-century chairs with wooden frames and kind of slouchy leather cushions. We’d say, who designed those? And [the answer] would be Sergio Rodrigues, he recalls. As Bradbury details in his new book, Rodrigues created his signature Mole Armchair in 1957 after photographer Otto Stupakoff asked him to create a comfy couch for him. He later had another hit in 2002 with the Diz Lounge Armchair; a culmination of a long career. There was something quite joyful about his workyou just wanted to relax into his armchairs or his sofas, says Bradbury. They’re the kind of chair you can’t walk past without wanting to sit yourself down and spend a moment. Ultimately, Rodriguess work was spotted and appeared in international trade shows, leading to distribution abroad. But what of the other South American mid-century modernists lost to time? [They] just sort of stayed at home and concentrated on [their] home marketbut that doesn’t mean the work is any less amazing, Bradbury says. Who knows: In the current era of mid-century rediscovery and reappreciation, it may only be a matter of time before we see these mid-century modern designers anew, as well.
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Thinking back to childhood, what role did you play in your family dynamic? Maybe you were the straight-A student? Maybe you flew under the radar, not causing trouble? Or perhaps you were charged with taking care of siblings? The person you were inside your family relationship can impact how you act in the workplace today, says Dr. Alexandra Solomon, clinical psychologist and host of the MasterClass In Practice series on dealing with anxiety. Sometimes we repeat those family roles in our adult relationships, and sometimes we do a 180 flip, she says. There’s a path of repetition and there’s a path of opposition. Our goal is to be on the third path, which is the path of integration. Solomon identified six common roles children play inside of their families based on their experiences. People tend to identify with one or two roles. Roles can also change, often due to a shift in the family dynamics, such as a divorce, a death, or an older sibling heading off to college. Each role has a function with two parts, explains Solomon. The individual takes on this role in an attempt to belong and to access love, she says. And the person takes on this role in an attempt to stabilize the [family] system. 1. The Perfect One A child who assumes the role of the “perfect one” attempts to gain love through performance. They stabilize the system by being a straight-A student or a superstar athlete, so the family can feel good about itself. In the workplace, the perfect ones gift is competence. If you give them a project, you can be pretty sure that it will be done and done well, says Solomon. The challenge is that perfect ones tend to be hard on themselves and, oftentimes, demanding and critical of the people around them. 2. The Easy One The family member who is the “easy one” tries to obtain love by going with the flow. They create stability for the system by not adding any additional strain, which often happens when parents are stressed. The easy one attempts to help their parents feel as calm as possible by needing less. Their gift at work is flexibility, which is an asset on a team because you can put them anywhere and they’ll figure it out without asking too many questions or being a squeaky wheel, says Solomon. Their challenge, however, is that they can end up feeling resentful because their needs aren’t being met. 3. The Struggling One The child who is the “struggling one” is often the center of attention. Solomon says this role captures an idea from family therapy called the identified patient. This happens when parents bring a child to therapy saying, Our kid is having a problem. Its possible that they are focusing on the child to avoid their own marital conflict. To gain stability, the child may back up what the parent says as long as it keeps the parents from fighting with each other. Its possible, too, that the child has identifiable challenges. The struggling ones gift as a coworker is that they become a strong advocate, says Solomon. They make people around them feel safe because theyve struggled, too. The challenge, however, is that they need to be more independent. 4. The Peacemaker The peacemakers role in the family is to help people get along. They gain love by solving problems, such as getting parents in conflict to understand each other. Even at a young age, they try to have everyone’s best interests at heart. In the workplace, the peacemakers gift is an eye for fairness, advocacy, and mediation. They help everyone understand each other’s perspectives, and they’re unafraid to get in the mix. The challenge, however, is that they spend so much time with their finger on the pulse of the system, anticipating a problem, that they have a hard time accessing their own emotions. 5. The Parentified Child A parentified child is someone who attempts to gain love by providing a source of comfort to the grown-ups in the family. This role is similar to the peacemaker; however, they offer more support for issues rather than trying to solve them. They act like a little adult in the household. The parentified childs gift at work is having empathy and caregiving for others. Their challenge, though, is that they often have difficulty with boundaries. They often define their worthiness by the degree to which they are needed by others. 6. The Rebel The final role is the rebel. This is someone who isnt afraid to call out how the family dynamic isnt making sense or working. They attempt to gain love through authenticity, speaking up, and trying to create stability by calling out what’s happening. The rebels gift is fearlessness, saying the thing that nobody else wants to say. The challenge, especially in peer-to-peer relationships, is that their self-identity is organized around opposition to the system. It can be hard to meld into a group when you spend time pointing out the things that are wrong, says Solomon. How Your Role Applies to the Workplace Carl Jung said, Until you make the unconscious conscious, it’s going to direct your life, and you’re going to call it fate, says Solomon. Were usually not conscious of our role, and we don’t usually have language for our role. We just do relationships the way we’ve always done relationships. Once you recognize the role you played in your family, you can start to notice core pain points at work that connect to a role you played. If you have a difficult boss, for example, its not just about a difficult boss; its what you do in the face of a situation with a difficult boss. A rebel might feel like calling foul on their boss. The more the rebel calls foul, however, the more the difficult boss is frustrated with the rebel. You can take a step back, realize your go-to reaction, and consider options of what you can do differently. You may not be able to change your boss, but you can become more empowered and not fall into the same patterns, says Solomon. The rebel may want to figure out what they can let go of. If they notice the urge to speak up, what will happen if they stay quiet? Maybe somebody else speaks up? Or maybe they realize it wasn’t the end of the world. [It’s about] trying a different behavior and noticing what the dfferent outcome is instead of being led by knee-jerk responses. Your Coworkers Roles Understanding that we bring family roles into work can also help you create hypotheses about why your coworkers act the way they do, which can help you feel less reactive to their behavior. If I watch my coworker pointing out to the boss again and again everything they did, you might start to wonder if they were a ‘perfect one’ in their family, and the only way they think they can be safe and belong is to prove their value again and again, says Solomon. Maybe you can have compassion. It may drive you crazy, but if you see that its their family of origin wound, you can take it less personally. Theyre doing that because that’s what they believe they have to do to be seen as valuable. Stress and anxiety are inevitable at work. The good news is you dont have to be helpless victims, says Solomon. There are things we can’t change about our workplace, about the state of the world, about other peoples behavior, about the things that happened to us in the past, she says. But we can get insight around why you see things the way you do. The experience of doing something different in a difficult moment reinforces a feeling of trust in oneself, which is vital.
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