What does it mean to be from the north – or any place – in a globalised world? Where the’s muck, is the’ still brass? Do we tolerate less bullsh*t than others? Has the St George’s Cross become a symbol of racism? Is making do and mending consigned to the history books? Where’s the line between being proud of where we’re from and making others feel excluded? What are we forgetting? Who’s using our fondness for the north to their own ends? Do you want gravy on your chips? Or curry sauce?
From making possibly the world’s largest letterpress printing press, the People Powered Press (with a giant new type face cut from steel to match), and printing on life jackets used by migrants making the journey to Europe; to making inks from chip shop gravy powder and curry sauce and submitting an audacious application to trademark ‘The North’, These Northern Types is a thought-provoking and ambitious collection of typographic works that simultaneously celebrates northern identity whilst asking searching questions about our relationship to place today.
“Ambitious, expansive, and inventive… No one project can ever adequately summarise the state of a nation, but These Northern Types is as good an attempt as you’ll see all year.” — It’s Nice That
“Beautiful to look at yet uncompromising and direct… created by some of the most interesting thinkers in the north today.” — The Independent
“These Northern Types is nothing less than a frequently discursive disquisition on the nature of Northernness as unapologetically contrary as the North itself.” — Northern Soul
The book is available in our shop here.
Among the 16 works, the centre piece of the collection became the People Powered Press – A giant letterpress printing press and new typeface, Graft, designed by Split, and cut from steel at 60em (720pt), accompanied by a set of giant feature numerals that come in at 3480pt. (There or there abouts)
Built by local engineering firm JKN Oil Tools, we believe the press to be one of, if not the, largest letterpress printing presses in the world. It was created to make large scale, outdoor public posters – amplifying local voices, printed in, and by the local community.
The book is available in our shop here.