Alan Kitching: A Life in Letterpress
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A lavish, visual celebration of an extraordinary career A Life in Letterpress is a uniquely personal portrait of Alan Kitching's remarkable lifetime contribution to the design industry.
From his early discovery of a small adana printing press in his primary school classroom to running experimental printing workshops at Watford College of Technology in the 1960’s, ‘A Life in Letterpress’ documents an extraordinary journey.
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The career of Alan Kitching has a trajectory all its own, with no antecedents and few pretenders to his throne.
Alan Kitching: A Life In Letterpress (Teaser 1)
Striking an intimate balance between Kitching ‘the man’ and Kitching the ‘designer’, A Life in Letterpress features an array of thoughtful personal photographs and large format colour prints showcasing Kitching’s breadth and understanding of type and letter-setting.
Embracing letter-setting as an apprentice compositor, and his rigorous and sustained deviations to push and interrogate its limits has led him to become a legendary icon.
Kitching’s practice is made special by his ability to wrest powerful pieces of communicative artwork from an industrial process whose original use has been superseded.
At a time when traditional craft techniques are at risk of disappearing altogether, it is affirming to hear Kitching’s story; a man who has defied the encroaching persistence of the digital age with committment and passion.
Alan Kitching: A Life In Letterpress (Teaser 2)
He savours the act of composition, the details of spacing and justifying metal type, the imaginative inking of huge wood letters.
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Whether it be his ‘Broadside’ series of publications, exhibitions of letterpress design, typographic map-making, or commissioned works for publications such as The Guardian or Dazed and Confused, Waters presents Kitching’s complex mastery of the letterpress craft alongside the story behind such an acclaimed career.
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Alan Kitching: A Life In Letterpress by John L. Waters is published by Laurence King. Limited Edition £75, Collector’s Edition £200.
thetypographyworkshop.com | laurenceking.com