Piet Zwart: NKF and the New Typography
Piet Zwart: NKF and the New Typography
From GBP 7.00
Location
Date
Description
Piet Zwart: NKF and the New Typography
With Paul Stirton
Date: Tuesday 1 April
Location: Online via Zoom
Time: 7–8.30pm BST
Tickets: £7, £9
Please note: you will be emailed the Zoom link at 6pm GMT on the day of the talk.
In 1923, Piet Zwart was introduced to the Nederlandsche Kabelfabriek (Netherlands Cable Works or "NKF"), thus starting a new phase in his career as a graphic designer. Inspired by the ideals of De Stijl, as well as the graphics of El Lissitzky and Kurt Schwitters, Zwart began to experiment with the basic materials of the type case producing some 275 different designs for adverts, packaging and booklets for NKF.
This culminated in the famous NKF catalogue of 1927–28, combining a radical approach to typography, layout, photomontage and colour overlays, all in the service of a technical catalogue of electrical cables. This booklet made Zwart's name among progressive European designers and the catalogue remains a landmark in the New Typography.
Zwart has been voted the greatest Dutch designer of the twentieth century, but he could also be difficult. He fell out with the NKF management and in 1933 was sacked from his teaching position in Rotterdam. In this talk, Paul Stirton will trace the development of Zwart's designs for NKF and touch on his other work in poster, book, furniture and information design.
Paul Stirton is emeritus professor of the history of European design at the Bard Graduate Center in New York, and editor of West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, published by University of Chicago Press. He is the author of Jan Tschichold and the New Typography (Yale, 2018), on which he spoke to the St Bride Foundation community last year, and NKF: Piet Zwart's Avant-Garde Catalog for Standard Cables, 1927–1928 (Letterform Archive, 2024).
Organiser
Established in 1891 with a clear social and cultural purpose, St Bride Foundation is one of London’s hidden gems.
Housed in a beautiful Grade II listed Victorian building, St Bride Foundation was originally set up to serve the burgeoning print and publishing trade of nearby Fleet Street, and is now finding a new contemporary audience of designers, printmakers and typographers who come to enjoy a regular programme of design events and workshops.
Many thousands of books, printing-related periodicals and physical objects are at the heart of St Bride Library. Volumes on the history of printing, typography, newspaper design and paper-making jostle for space alongside one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of type specimens. The printed, written, carved and cast word may be found at St Bride in its myriad forms. Architectural lettering and examples of applied typography in many media, together with substantial collections of steel punches and casting matrices for metal types are also held in this eclectic collection. The Reading Room is open to visitors twice a month and on other days by appointment. Although we operate on a cost-neutral basis, it is necessary to charge for some of our services. Details are available by emailing the library team at library@sbf.org.uk.
St Bride retains many of its original features, including the baths, laundry, printing rooms and library. As part of the Foundation’s original mission to provide for the community, many of the building’s unique and characterful spaces are available to hire whether for meetings, weddings or classes.
St Bride also houses the popular Bridewell Theatre, and Bridewell Bar (once the laundry), and hosts a year-round programme of plays, comedy, music and exhibitions.
With some 65,000 visitors a year St Bride Foundation is a major London hub for the creative arts in London. We look forward to welcoming you soon.
Venue
St Bride Foundation, 14 Bride Ln, EC4Y 8EQ London
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