Wednesday, 11:57am
11 January 2012

Force of nature

New Kapitza book replaces geometric certainty with organic structure

Following on from their 2008 book Geometric, the Kapitza sisters, Nicole and Petra, have produced another tome, full of colour, pattern and ideas, writes Liz Farrelly.

This time they self-published, to oversee all aspects of the editorial and production process.

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Again, the full bleed patterns result from an exploration of possibilities, experimenting with a new series of fonts. But this series is inspired by nature rather than geometric certainties. Back in summer 2011, Kapitza explained their creative process: ‘We started scribbling with handwriting, and overlaying photos of structures from nature. Then, we played around with the software, pushing it where it didn’t want to go. Initially, we changed the spacing between and around characters, then took it out.’

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The results are random and arbitrary, with much overlapping and layering of elements. And, accentuating these new forms, their colour palettes have evolved, too. The combinations are eccentric and complex, but they have included black and white patterns, too, for the purists.

Viewed together in the pages of Organic, these patterns seem to defy any sense of order. Kapitza have achieved a level of digital rule-breaking that is simultaneously playfulness, chaotic and breathless. Remember, it’s still a font.

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Organic by Kapitza. Introduction by Simon Thorogood, published by Kapitza Books, kapitza.com.

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Read Liz Farrelly’s review of Geometric in Eye 71.

See also ‘The decriminalisation of ornament’ in Eye 58.

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It’s available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions, back issues and single copies of the latest issue, Eye 81.