Letterspace #43: Helena H +Kasper Q
28.02.2024
13.00 - 15.00
De Lange Adem, Ruyschstraat 295, 1091 DX, Amsterdam
Doors open: 19.00 hrs
Start program: 19.30 hrs
Free admission
RSVP for a free craft beer
Since the conception of letterspace, we’ve been reaching out to potential speakers to talk about political matters and gender inequalities in typography and type design. Not one but two recent graduates of GDA Arnhem, Helena Hesselink and Kasper Quaink, explored these topics in their theses, and we’re thrilled to have them share their work.
Their lectures will explore the psychological, societal and habitual effects bias has on typography as well as gender imbalance and visual stereotypes in type design.
Helena Hesselink
Helena Hesselink is a graphic designer, textile maker, color and shape enthousiast, who graduated from graphic design ArtEZ University of Arts in Arnhem, where she is based since. She did a minor in textile design at LUCA Ghent (2021), HKU graphic design (2019). Currently she is working as a workshop assistant at ArtEZ and runs a freelance design practice. She has a strong affinity for various tools and is eager to learn any form in which her creative mind can be displayed.
Kasper Quaink
Kasper Quaink is a graphic/type designer with fascinations for Book Design, Typographical Research, Visual Research, Experimental Workshops and Tool Making. Kasper is based in Arnhem, where he runs his own freelance practice, and is also part of Part of K.C ⇄ Q a design duo, founded in 2023, with K.Chen (Kuan-Ting Chen).
The collaboration focuses on the intersection of experimental typography and community, by organising analogue-based typographical workshops with diverse materials and methods, exploring the potential of type alongside their participants. Kasper is currently doing an apprenticeship in Amsterdam with a type-designer and working on various self-initiated typefaces.
TypeClub 530
The two speakers share a common enthusiasm for tool- and community-building. During their studies in graphic design at ArtEZ, both were involved with TypeClub 530, a student initiated type collective hosting experimental typography workshops for anyone interested in type.
Lecture format
This lecture stems from the theses written by Helena Hesselink and Kasper Quaink during their graduation year and their overlapping interest in discovering prejudices in typography, allowed for more dialogue and exploration during the writing process.
By request of letterspace, the texts have been formatted into a lecture format and the speakers will open up the discussion about the societal and habitual effects bias has on typography and how gender imbalances and visual stereotypes exist in type design.