Summer 2024
System process pipe
Stefan Themerson
Themerson Estate, €48. Designed by Piet Gerards and Stephan de Smet.
In 1965, writes Alan Kitching, I attended a lecture by Stefan Themerson at Watford College of Technology, School of Art. I was a young technician and very aware of how much I had to learn from the wealth of knowledge surrounding me. The subject of his lecture was ‘Time’ and that’s all I can recall. Later in the day I realised I was walking behind him down Hempstead Road in Watford. He was smoking his pipe, heading for the station. Back then it would not have occurred to me that I could approach the great man, especially as this would mean admitting that his words had proved elusive.
He had been invited to give the lecture by Anthony Froshaug, my boss, who was influenced by Themerson’s use of ‘Internal Vertical Justification’ (IVJ) – a system for constructing a typographic text on the page.
Anthony was my mentor, tutor and later a friend, and through him I benefited from Themerson’s influence even though the great man’s words had passed me by. However, IVJ as disseminated via Froshaug had (and still has) a profound influence on my work. I strive to structure the text visually and through this add to the meaning.
Within Stefan Themerson, designed by Piet Gerards and Stephan de Smet there are many gems presented ‘through the eyes, minds and words of thirteen writers’, as editor Jasia Reichardt puts it. One such essay is ‘Visiting Gabberbochus’, about Themerson’s imprint Gabberbochus Press, which published many books that featured illustrations by his wife and collaborator Franciszka, including Kurt Schwitters on a time-chart. This first appeared in its entirety in Herbert Spencer’s Typographica (new series no. 16) in 1967 (see article in Eye 31).
The book is handsomely designed in a generous format of 210 x 280mm and runs to 220 pages with excellent colour illustrations. As a typographer, I am pleased to say that it is printed on quality white paper, which fits with the quality of the subject contained within its pages.
Alan Kitching typographic designer and printmaker, London
Above. Double portrait of Themerson by his wife, Franciszka, 1973.
First published in Eye no. 106 vol. 27, 2024
Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues.