September 2020. Who would have thought in January at TT №4 that just a few weeks later the whole world would come to a shutdown? In the middle of planning the upcoming Typotable events in March, June and September, it became clear pretty quickly that TT №5 and №6 would definitely not take place. All speakers had already confirmed, the hotel rooms were booked, but nobody knew what would happen next. We waited, considered, observed the pandemic situation and decided without further ado to organize a TT №7 for September and to either let it happen or cancel it spontaneously based on the current Corona situation. An online event was not an option for us, because Typotable is characterised by interaction of people, by exchange and participation. We have considered how we can compensate for the gap caused by two cancelled events — we decided to turn three events into one: TT №7 became Typotable Extended. We changed room and time. Instead of being an after work event, TT №7 became a full scaled conference on a Saturday. Find some impressions here. Whereas in the past, the event was situated in the Large Printing Hall of the Musuem für Druckkunst among the historic printing presses, the Typotable Extended moved to the Lecture Hall, which offered enough space and a lot of fresh air.

The event was opened by Chris Campe, illustrator and lettering artist. She talked about her studio in Hamburg, the funny snippets of conversation she often picks up through the thin store windows when people walk by and which she then sometimes paints in oversized letters on her window pane. She conveyed the sources of her inspiration and the connection of content, clear statements and design in her work. Mark van Leeuwen moved from Italy to Berlin in 2017 to his so-called »absolute type capital«. He told about the development of his hobby lettering into a job for clients all over the world and shared his work experience, which is mainly characterized by get contacted via Instagram. Nathalie Rauch presented one of her favorite projects, the development of a font in Cambodian Khmer script system and the careful handling as well as the healthy balance between tradition, utility and modernity. Hennig Skibbe talked about the genesis of his foundry Character Type, analyzed the current state of the foundry landscape and showed one of his current type design projects. Charlotte Rohde topped the Typtoable Extended with a Skin Care Type performance, shared her passion and inspiration for female role models, and talked about her method of combining feminism with type design. The event closes with a Q&A session with all speakers, and afterwards there was plenty of conversation between all the participants outside. The event could hardly have been more varied and controversial and yet offered a continuous line whose tension did not break.