atelier à propos

Blackletter, the Content of the Form is an essay on the history of Blackletter from the 12th to the 21st century. It is the result of a two-year investigation led by Vincent Champenois and supervised by Dr. Mathew Staunton, PhD. It tells the story of the birth and evolution of this ill-appreciated writing system while rectifying common misconceptions and biased prejudices.

The essay focuses as much on Blackletter itself as it does on historical, political, artistic, religious, scientific and technological contexts, and by doing so, depicts 900 years of European history from the standardisation of writing to contemporary digital typography.