Crowdfunding plea for adding two participants to Legacy of Letters 2023

This will be the last Legacy of Letters tour and workshop for the foreseeable future! I would like to fill the last two available places on the tour with unfunded applicants for the Legacy of Letters 2023 scholarships. There were 18 applicants for the four sponsored scholarships, a dozen of whom had excellent portfolios. Among them were two women, Shaqa Bovand from Iran and Chiara Bergese from Italy, who missed the cut-off in the cumulative judges’ voting but received …
Continue reading →

James Stroud and Janine Wong on Legacy of Letters

James Stroud and Janine Wong (Legacy of Letters 2019 and Legacy of Letters 2022):
We have participated in Legacy of Letters tours in 2019 and 2022 and found both experiences to be a most enjoyable mix of typographic history, artist book projects, and incredible food and wine excursions. Paul Shaw and Patricia Childers put together an extraordinary, finely-tuned program, and gathered together a compelling mix of participants from far and wide. We look forward to joining Legacy of Letters again in …
Continue reading →

Emmy Yamaguchi on Legacy of Letters

Emmy Yamaguchi (Legacy of Letters 2019):
I look back on Legacy of Letters as a super fun, inspiring, (and delicious!) study abroad trip. I was able to experiment with letterpress in a legendary museum and have the opportunity to visit special libraries, archives, etc. with an amazing group of creatives. To this day, I often refer back to photos I took on that Italy trip for my graphic design work. I can’t recommend it enough!
Emmy Yamaguchi (at right) enjoying lunch …
Continue reading →

Andrea Marks on Legacy of Letters

Andrea Marks (Legacy of Letters 2015)
I was part of the Tipoteca workshop in 2015 and it remains a true highlight for me on many levels. I met many exceptionally creative people, the trip was extremely well organized, and the food and accommodations were perfect. Our four-day letterpress printing workshop in Cornuda was the pinnacle of the trip—inspiring, engaging and a lot of fun. No one knows the legacy of letters in Italy like Paul! I highly recommend this trip.
Andrea …
Continue reading →

Henri-Paul Bronsard on Legacy of Letters

Henri-Paul Bronsard (Legacy of Letters 2022):
To those of you interested in having a great group experience with people from different fields of knowledge, I highly encourage you to take part in the next Legacy of Letters in Italy. You will have an opportunity to visit and work in the fantastic Tipoteca museum for typography and printing. I was initially skeptical, but being part of Legacy of Letters 2022 was one of the best decisions of my life. Setting type and …
Continue reading →

Legacy of Letters 2023—Editore Tallone

Enrico Tallone in the printshop at Editore Tallone. Photograph by Paul Shaw (2022).
One of the many highlights of Legacy of Letters 2023 will be a full day at Editore Tallone, located in the tiny town of Alpignano, a short drive to the west of Torino. The Tallone family has been Italian letterpress royalty for nearly ninety years. I recently conducted an email interview with Elisa Tallone and her father Enrico Tallone, members of the third and second generations of …
Continue reading →

Jason Stadnik and Shaina Pruden on Legacy of Letters

Jason Stadnik and Shaina Pruden (Legacy of Letters 2019)
That’s amore! Shaina and I absolutely loved our Legacy of Letters Italian adventure to the Tipoteca in Cornuda. I’m a type-geek at heart—so this trip was a no-brainer for me. But Shaina, a veterinarian, was a bit nervous to go at first. Her nerves were quickly put at ease when we arrived in Italy, toured the museums and participated in the letterpress workshop at the Tipoteca. Shaina killed it with …
Continue reading →

Meet the Legacy of Letters 2023 Scholarship Winners

The winners of the Legacy of Letters 2023 scholarships have been chosen. There were eighteen applicants for the three awards. It was a geographically diverse group with eleven different countries being represented. Furthermore, half of the applicants were female. The judging—by myself, Peter Kruty and Sayre Gaydos of Peter Kruty Editions (the printers for the Legacy of Letters 2023 letterpress workshop at the Tipoteca), and four of the sponsors for the awards—was blind, with each applicant’s portfolio stripped of …
Continue reading →

Angelina Lippert on Legacy of Letters

Angelina Lippert (Legacy of Letters 2022):
Imagine being in Italy with a dozen of the coolest design and type nerds in the world, all eager to share their knowledge and drink good wine with you. I normally hate group trips, but somehow the people attracted to the Legacy of Letters manage to elevate what could sound like the school trip from hell and make it two weeks of rip-roaring printing fun fueled by cheese and aperol spritzes. Moreover, Paul’s personal …
Continue reading →

Gloria Kondrup for Legacy of Letters

Gloria Kondrup (Legacy of Letters 2017):

Whether you are a novice or master letterpress printer, or a lover of books and typography, Legacy of Letters is a unique experience. In addition to printing with the incredible collection of type at Tipoteca, you share your journey with great people.

Gloria Kondrup measuring type in the bed of the press during the Erik Spiekermann letterpress workshop for Legacy of Letters 2017. Photograph by Paul Shaw.

Legacy of Letters 2023 will take place from …
Continue reading →

Raffaela Canu on Legacy of Letters

Raffaela Canu (Legacy of Letters 2017):
Legacy of Letters in 2017 was a really fantastic experience. The artisans at the many printing workshops we visited shared their passion and knowledge of the craft with us. We were able to watch as they produced stunning examples of letterpress printing.
We visited several museums dedicated to the history of typography and printing, where we were able to learn about the evolution of the craft and see some of the oldest typefaces and …
Continue reading →

Diane Tomasso on Legacy of Letters

Diane Tomasso (with her husband Ray Tomasso Legacy of Letters 2015 and Legacy of Letters 2017):
I attended Legacy of Letters twice with my late husband, artist Ray Tomasso. The tours encompassed a delightful assortment of historic art and architecture along with calligraphy, typography, letterforms and printing from the medieval to the modern and contemporary. We particularly enjoyed Paul’s walking tours of formal and ad hoc signage. For Ray, the letterpress workshops at the Tipoteca with Alan Kitching and Erik Spiekermann …
Continue reading →

“Old machines for modern design”—An Interview with Officina Typo in Modena

“A inventare i numeri” by Gianni Rodori poster by Officina Typo. Image courtesy of Officina Typo.
The lock-up for “A inventare i numeri” poster. Image courtesy of Officina Typo.
One of the optional events of Legacy of Letters 2022 Tipo Cibo Vino was a visit to Officina Typo following a morning at the Biblioteca Estense. No one signed up for it.
But I was eager to see the shop since it had been recommended to me by Sandro Berra of the Tipoteca. Thus, …
Continue reading →

Liz DeLuna on Legacy of Letters

Liz DeLuna (Legacy of Letters 2015 and Legacy of Letters 2017):
Legacy of Letters tours are an experience of a lifetime. My visits to the Tipoteca with Legacy of Letters inspired me to write a blog post for Alphabettes. Anyone lucky enough to visit Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione is rewarded with a vibrant and immersive connection to the history of printing and type. For lovers of type, it is a bucket list must. For lovers of type and lovers of …
Continue reading →