字体介绍

ITC Werkstatt是Alphabet Soup公司的Paul Crome和Satwinder Sehmi以及Elene Strizver和Colin Brignall共同智慧的结晶。其灵感来自于Rudolph Koch的作品，Rudolph Koch是本世纪前三分之一时期著名的德国书法家、雕刻师以及字体设计师，它并没有直接基于Koch的任何字体。Werkstatt与科赫广受欢迎的Neuland的厚重木刻造型有着明显的相似之处，但也与Wallau这样的显示字体有明显的相似之处。Brignall一开始是以55mm的大写字母高度绘制了正式字母，Sehmi使用带有宽边笔尖的钢笔重新诠释了这些字母。“这不是一个简单的过程，” Brignall说，“因为Koch风格的特点之一是，尽管它具有书法风格，但大多数时候他的字怀形状与外部形状没有任何相似之处，就像正常书法那样。这意味着Sehmi无法一次完成一张套字符，而必须分别创建外部和内部形状，然后在字母的中间填入墨水。”这个过程重复了一遍，只是没有完全填满雕刻版的轮廓。Crome进行了扫描和数字化，在创建可用的数字轮廓的同时保持了手工制作的感觉。“拥有特殊技能的工匠的协作，” Brignall说，“在现代的计算机辅助工作室环境中，这似乎与Rudolph Koch大力提倡的‘工作室’精神非常吻合。”

ITC Werkstatt is a result of the combined talents of Alphabet Soup's Paul Crome and Satwinder Sehmi, along with Ilene Strizver and Colin Brignall. It is inspired by the work of Rudolph Koch, the renowned German calligrapher, punchcutter, and type designer of the first third of this century, without being based directly on any of Koch's typefaces. Werkstatt has obvious affinities with the heavy, woodcut look of Koch's popular Neuland, but also with display faces like Wallau and even the light, delicate Koch Antiqua. Brignall began by drawing formal letters with a 55mm cap height, which Sehmi reinterpreted using a pen with a broad-edge nib. “Not an easy process,” says Brignall, “since one of the features of Koch's style is that while it was calligraphic in spirit, most of the time his counter shapes did not bear any resemblance to the external shapes, as they would in normal calligraphy. This meant that Sehmi could not complete a whole character in one go, but had to create the outside and inside shapes separately and then ink in the center of the letters.” The process was repeated, only without entirely filling in the outlines, for the Engraved version. Crome handled the scanning and digitization, maintaining the hand-made feel while creating usable digital outlines. “The collaboration of artisans with particular skills,” says Brignall, “in a modern-day, computer-aided studio environment, seems very much in step with the 'workshop' ethos that Rudolph Koch encouraged and promoted so much.”