Due to popular demand we decided to extend the exhibition.
It all started with an article in the Dutch newspaper, de Volkskrant, on 25 January 2014: “Hansje van Halem, the designer of this extraordinary book-lovers’ book, has combined her experimental letter designs and try-outs of the last ten years. The result is dazzling and breath-taking.” We were curious and bought Sketchbook. Dazzling and breath-taking was indeed the right way to describe the letter designs and studies of patterns you encounter, page after page. Despite the fact that Hansje van Halem calls herself a graphic designer and has only made work that is reprinted many times and is reproducible, we recognised that her work is of such quality that an independent force was lurking in every study, every experiment, unfinished sketch and successful design. Now the only thing left was to convince Hansje that her work was art.
Our campaign has been successful: from 30 November 2014, a solo exhibition of her work can be seen in our gallery. The drawings in the book have been enlarged, printed on our Océ Arizona Canon printer and hung on the walls. Besides these, there are screen printed posters Hansje designed to announce exhibitions at Schrank8, Hansje’s own showcase cabinet in her home, and at Galerie Block C in Groningen. Here and there a ‘typographical experiment’ serves as wallpaper, and elsewhere visitors can see how her designs look on textiles. And luckily we were also able to exhibit a wall of her independent work. We have framed this work and it is available in a print run.
Besides her thick tome, Sketchbook, which has practically sold out, Hansje has compiled a 52-page Sketch Cahier containing all the highlights of Sketchbook and new additions especially for this exhibition. This cahier is on sale in our shop.
For the most recent selection of art works in the Van Abbevitrine, please click the following link.
Opening: Sunday November 30, 15:00
The exhibition closes on April 30, at 18:00.
Credits: Patrick Meis
‘Sketch Cahier – Hansje van Halem’
– soft cover, 52 pages, full color, € 30,-
– ISBN 94 90913 50 2
– published by Uitgeverij De Buitenkant
– available via www.hansje.net and our shop
Dutch graphic designer Hansje van Halem (1978) started her Amsterdam-based studio in 2003. Specialised in typography and book design, she creates alphabets, textures and patterns, both digitally and manually. Hansje keeps track of a dizzying array of commissioned, applied, self-generated, rejected and unfinished sketches, type drawings, motifs and experiments (both successes and failures). Unused material often becomes a source from which Hansje draws further inspiration.
“Drawing (type) experiments started as something I’d do in between deadlines for book designs. I called it a hobby. I started to receive commissioned assignments based upon the detailed alphabet drawings. Drawing has more to do with systems, structures and textures than it does with letter shapes. Making a collection of letters seemed like a legitimate way to spend my time: an investment in a collection of drawings that I could later on use as content. The tension between a systematic approach, legibility and (ir)regularity are appealing to me. I find it equally interesting to only draw the textures and end up with patterns. These patterns are often used as end papers in hardcover books. I find repetitive work soothing. It calms me down and allows me some time to think about other things while being productive at the same time.”
Van Abbe Vitrine
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