Last week I went on a tour around the centre of Amsterdam with Maarten Helle, who published a book on the city’s wide array of street typography. The man behind the book Amsterdam in Letters has been looking up at buildings around our city streets for years now, in search of custom/unusual and original lettering. He started off with a love for architecture and collected so many pictures of lovely lettering that the pictures eventually made their way into a book. He managed to find examples and stories of typography in parts of Amsterdam you thought you knew, but once you start strolling along with Maarten, he’ll point you to some true beauties you surely must have overlooked.
I was already familiar with some examples through the of making the ABC guide together with Studio BAR. We’d spotted Tuschinski, Algemeen Handelsdagblad, Bunge-huis, yet we still found ourselves gasping in surprise about how we completely missed other spots. “How come we never spotted that one on Dam square? Did that alley always have that lettering and did I just miss it?!” Yes, clearly. Right there in the hustle and bustle of it all Maarten told us stories of architects, buildings, lettering and about the city of Amsterdam itself. It was a real pleasure.
So if you want to be surprised and discover things like a letter ‘A’ that looks like a pissing dog, get a group together and get in touch for a tour here: hellebeelden.nl
Brain & Guts 