The reissue of issue 43 of the critical graphic design journal: a reflection on the dynamics of formal relationships between writing and typography.
"In 1920, Francis Thibaudeau dedicated his manual of modern typography, La Lettre d'imprimerie, to Auriol, a letterer and typographer from the beginning of the century, whom he described as "the innovator of typographic writing." The book is set using multiple variants of Auriol's striking typefaces—notably the outline font Auriol-champlevé, the stencil Auriol labeur, the narrow Française Légère, and the bold Robur Noir.
And it should be noted that perhaps the most widespread of these alphabets, Auriol labeur, is a typeface which defends both the pictorial dynamics of its components, visibly brushed with an august gesture, as well as the more-or-less industrial technicality of the bridges of this stencil typeface. One could be quite rightly struck by the oxymoron of so-called "typographic writing."
How does writing, along with its contingent, situated, and personal dynamics function in conjunction with the industrial and normative generalization of typography? Can a typeface, an abstract ideal, an orthographic contract, act upon historical movements and the specific and constantly renewed inclusion of alphabets? What happens to cursiveness when it is somehow "reclaimed" by the relatively definitive, or at the very least perennial, form of fonts?"
Faire is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to graphic design, published from October to June, distributed issue by issue or in the form of anthologies of three or four issues. Created by Empire, Syndicat studio's publishing house, Faire is aimed for undergraduate students as well as researchers and professionals, documenting contemporary and international practices of graphic design, along with the history and grammar of styles. Each issue focuses on a single subject, addressed by a renowned author. Adopting an analytical and critical posture with regard to the forms and activities of graphic design, editors Sacha Léopold and François Havegeer have been running this print magazine since 2018, working with a growing list of authors (Mathias Augustyniak, Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey, Lise Brosseau, Manon Bruet, Thierry Chancogne, Céline Chazalviel, Jérôme Dupeyrat, Aude Fellay, Catherine Guiral, Étienne Hervy, James Langdon, Olivier Lebrun, Victoire Le Bars, Alexandra Midal, Camille Pageard, Remi Parcollet, Sonia de Puineuf, Simon Renaud, Benjamin Thorel, Rica Cerbarano...), resulting in unique and varied topics and writing styles.
