Hand Crafted Made in America

For Independence day Jack Daniels had commissioned four artists from Berkeley, Calif.; Austin, Texas; and Brooklyn, N.Y., to commission 5 poster that celebrate the notion of type. Each one is executed, beautifully, in a different medium. Being a fan of handcrafted typography I knew I had to write about these posters for my first blog entry.  

Jon Contino’s use of detailed inked calligraphy is beautiful drawn over the screen-printed anvil and sharpie paint markers to decorate the fine details around the anvil. 

 

Golden West Signs’ posters shown above were achieved by painting the type on to a sheet of plywood and a vintage car door.

Helms Workshop pieces shown above are probably my favorite posters of the five. The image of the flag is photographed with a lighting that compliments the material and lights up the white of the type. The stitching on the type creates a compelling decorative outline that adds an illustrative detail to the letters. Their wood cut lettering is another beautiful solution. Again the media is takes full advantage using the wood letters to pop of the wood barrel and using shadows, from the lighting in the photo, give the colors a nice contrast.

Every one of these posters sells the message of craft, because each one gives you a strong feeling for how much work, and dedication is put into handmade type. I think that it was a wise decision to pick designers and artist who focus on still working with traditional typographic methods rather than just making it with illustrator and photoshop, and collaging an image together. 

Visit the following links to see more from these designers.

Joncontino.com

Helmsworkshop.com

Goldenwestsignarts.tumblr.com

Jack Daniels Independence Poster

Independence Poster Videos