Eye Magazine

There are designers who shape the visual culture of a particular community without their names ever appearing in global histories of typography. Czech book designer and typographer Clara Istlerová (b.1944) is one of the most significant examples of this paradox.

Istlerová’s work was always distinctive, unique, unsettling. With the limited technological resources of her time, she managed to create a distinctive and memorable visual language. In her work, a book’s contents always determines its design, regardless of whether it is fiction, poetry, a narrative monograph or an exhibition catalogue. Although she has also designed many other things, from postage stamps to periodicals to film posters, book designs make up the main part of her work and now belong among the iconic works of Czech graphic design. Despite this, her work remained almost entirely undocumented by researchers. A Life Among Letters sets out to fill that gap.