[Read the whole article in german]
Interview
Why typography? What awakened your interest in the art of type?
I think the interest has always been there. When I was ten, I drew a school newspaper with my pencil. The letters were in a kind of Courier style. I was not too good a student, but my handwriting was pretty. This is a part of me, regardless of whether I want it or not. Fortunately, there are also other parts that I have. At least I hope so.
Who are your typographical paragons?
Just a few, in no particular order: David Berlow because of his sense of humor, Lucas de Groot because of the same first name and because of his patience with kerning, Erik Spiekermann because of his gift of social power, Matthew Carter because of his world-wide view, Timothy Donaldson because of the size of his tools, Roger Black, he should know why, Christian Schwartz because of the shapes he makes and the speed with which he makes them, Neville Brody because of “the graphic language of ”, …
Which book about typography have you recently read? Which one would you recommend?
I don’t read books about typography. It’s a bit like with women: you don’t need to read about them to be interested in them, and it’s better not to know what others say about them.
If you could be a typeface, which typeface would you like to be?
Letters written with a stick in the beach sand.
When you begin to design a typeface: do you grasp nib or mouse?
Anything, really. Sometimes a nib, sometimes the mouse.
What technical tools do you work with? Which scanner, which printer, which computer, which operating system, which programs do you use?
No scanner, just a camera. Mac OS X with Illustrator, FontLab Studio and InDesign. Dozens of Python macros to speed up stupid jobs.
Are you a pack rat or a purist? Hoarding on your hard drive 2.456.891 fonts or is Garamond, Bodoni, Frutiger and Futura more than enough?
I’m sure I have too many fonts, and I’m sure I’m missing some.
If your font folder only takes ten typefaces, which would that be?
System fonts. Any of them.
Comic Sans and Arial are banished in typographical circles. Which typeface may in no case be installed on your computer?
I’m sure they are somewhere on my drive, but I don’t have Arial or Comic Sans.
Which letter is your favorite? With which letter do you start when you design a typeface?
g, &, ?, A, d, or any letter that may become the inspiration for the rest of the alphabet.
What gave you the name of your first typeface?
I don’t remember.
Do you have plans for a next typeface?
Yes. I have a few ideas. But they won’t be large families for now, rather smaller fonts without a huge character set.
Have you ever chisel a letter in stone?
I tried for ten minutes. A few years short of getting a nice result.
Thank you for the interview!
Best, Ł
[Thomas Kunz, 2010-10-29]