‘I’d Love to Quit “Working” But to Never Give Up “Creating”’
Interview with František Štorm
František Štorm has been working as a typographer for more than two decades now; apart from his design work he’s also written a book on typography called Essays on Typography. As a matter of fact, he is one of the many who represents why people should take a look at the Czech typography scene.
You are probably one of the most productive typeface designers in the world. When did you decide that you wanted to work with letters?
Am I? But productivity isn’t happiness!
My first contact with the real typography happened back in 1984, at an exhibition of the Czech typographers in Prague: I saw the excellent works of Josef Týfa, Jan Solpera, Jiří Rathouský, Rostislav Vaněk and others. I immediately felt I’d love to do something like that — to play with symbols and their forms. The second impulse happened when I was visiting old libraries in my younger days. There were no digital cameras, and I didn’t even have a good analogue one, just a sheet of transparent paper and a pencil. I used to study the letterforms and the composition of the late baroque and classicistic prints, I could touch and smell the books printed by Fournier, Baskerville and Bodoni and, of course, dozens of nameless printers at the rare books section of the Prague’s University Library. Those not-so-famous ones were particularly interesting for me as they used more “spicy” and unknown typefaces.
Which part of the process of the type design do you enjoy the most and why? Could you tell me a little bit about how you choose names for your typefaces?
The part of seeing them in books or wherever they work: outside, on labels, package design in a market when buying food… I also like the part of receiving money for it. The other parts like drawing and sitting at the computer are the worst ones. Recently, for the first time in my life I had to visit a physiotherapist because my spine and neck had appeared to be damaged by making fonts. My younger colleagues are warned!
The names of my typefaces are always linked to the purpose, I try to express their nature and avoid using anything already taken.
Are you working on something new at this moment?
I’d love to quit “working” but to never give up “creating”. When I do something, I don’t know the result, so I can’t unveil it.
You are involved in many activities and projects. How do you get inspired to create fonts, paintings, music etc.?
Everything I do is a game including my short teaching period here in Prague at the AAAD. I play the guitar without knowing a single note. My typefaces are my toys, whenever I get bored by one of them, I need to make a new one, and it goes for my watercolour sketching in India.
What was the most unexpected place where you have seen your work so far?
Difficult to say… I like places without my work, maybe font piracy.
According to Johanna Biľak’s article Czechslovak Typography Connections for you “history is a key to the present and the basis for the future”. Why is history so important to you? I’m asking that because many creative minds are keen on finding their own voices without being compared to others. (Although plenty of examples, especially during the postmodern era, could show how inspiring artists and artistic movements can be.)
Johanna hit the point, there is nothing to add or comment. Historical values to me are the opposite of the fashion — it’s an endless dialogue between permanent and passing things. In typography we can’t live without either old fonts or experiment and innovation; custom and fashionable fonts will work perfectly for short-term assignments such as campaigns or corporate identities. However, regarding book printing the historical typefaces always win.
The history of the Czech(slovak) typography is very impressive. How much are you influenced by those talented artists and professionals who contributed to it? What are actually the characteristics of the Czech typography?
I’ve already mentioned Jan Solpera, my great teacher and old friend nowadays, he taught us to be unique and free from any convention. Czech typography was technically backwards in the era of letterpress and photosetting, but always innovative in terms of design. See Preissig, Tusar, Benda, Týfa, and today Brousil! I can remember those times when we adored “Western” design, which was completely wrong and worthless approach. The real value of Czech typography is perhaps a creative freedom coming out of the absence of a famous past: we didn’t invent the calligraphy, the letterpress or the humanist antiqua. At present times I feel it works like a snowball: typographers here are inspired by each other, and it’s growing in its territory. I gladly confess I’m getting ideas from my former students, too.
I wrote an article about Gary Hustwit who had directed the film Helvetica from which we could gain knowledge of what kind of feelings typographers have towards Helvetica. Some of them consider it one of the greatest typefaces ever, but some of them think it’s really overrated and overused. What is your relationship with this typeface? Do you like or dislike any typefaces at all?
I don’t use Helvetica, thus my relationship is neutral. Fine typeface indeed, but not for me. However, every typeface has its purpose, like it or not. For me there is just one criterion: legibility.
You quit teaching at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. You stated in an interview: “The state scholar system only parasitizes on my enthusiasm, giving me no reason to stay.” What is your opinion on today’s art education? Has it changed since then or still the same? (I know it was just a few years ago, but, for example ,in Hungary a lot of changes have happened over a year.) How much does it differ from those years when you were studying?
I left the school at the moment when the bureaucrats at the AAAD outnumbered the teachers. Those who survived were pushed to commit stupid activities such as “science and research” and postgraduate programmes in order to suck more money from the educational funds for the school officials. Art and craft teaching is not important anymore, they focus more on modern art, its curatorship and conceptual projects, which results that the graduates will not get proper jobs. Our famous printing and graphic workshops in the beautiful school building in the centre of Prague are being kicked out for the sake of fashion and conceptual studios. That is something I can’t accept. For what I know, this is happening in similar schools all over Europe.
What is your advice for those graduates who are keen on typography but don’t know what the next step is in order to become a typographer? Do you think it is necessary to enrol in a postgraduate programme or do you reckon that getting a job at type foundries could be a better option?
Graduates should know if they are graduates. Otherwise, go to libraries and study old prints! I mean the originals, smell the aged paper and binding, enjoy the bites of worms and mould decoration at edges of pages! Visit a functional letterpress factory and feel the ink, touch the metal letters, heft the heavy lettercases, have a beer or two with printers! I myself grew up in a printing workshop.
Could you exemplify what are the challenges a typographer has to face during his or her career?
I know that exactly: To keep your spine and neck slightly moving, don’t let it harden by sitting at the computer!
What does the future hold for typography?
Electronic media will doubtlessly prevail; most of the newspapers will go, but not the printed books. The predicted web font boom hasn’t happened yet, and paper isn’t dead — it’s here for some 4,000 years or so. Have you noticed the huge return of the vinyl records? Why not letterpress?
