True to type: master of print Alan Kitching displays 'A Life in Letterpress'

The craft of letterpress typographic design and printmaking is alive and well in Alan Kitching’s south London Typography Workshop – even if part of his studio is being transported to Suffolk as part of a retrospective of his six-decade career.
Examples of the master craftsman’s hand-set type will be on show at The Lettering Arts Centre at Snape Maltings – near Aldeburgh – alongside sketchbooks, posters, prints, book designs, equipment and other artefacts, including a small letterpress.
Kitching’s long career started at 15, when he was taken on as an apprentice at a jobbing printers. There, he learnt to set type for catalogues, dance tickets and pantomime posters.
By the 1970s he was a practicing graphic designer, and became a partner at Derek Birdsall’s Omnific studio.
However, by the late 1980s, Kitching was ready to leave the studio environment to go back to his roots – and he took the printing press with him.
He spent many years teaching letterpress techniques at the Royal College of Art, introducing several generations of students to the technique and transforming it into a new art form.
Kitching’s style developed to be loud and clear, dramatic and even forceful where appropriate. His design signature can be seen at The Lettering Arts Centre in his wood and metal lettering designs for magazines, books, stamps, posters and billboards, including work for The Guardian, the National Theatre, British Library, Royal Mail, Random House and Penguin Books.
Best of all, some lucky visitors can book in for a day’s workshop with Kitching in typesetting, imposition and printing, from 15 June.
The exhibition coincides with a new illustrated biography, Alan Kitching: A Life in Letterpress, published by Laurence King.
Kitching’s long career started at 15, when he was taken on as an apprentice at a jobbing printers. There, he learnt to set type for catalogues, dance tickets and pantomime posters. Pictured: Kitching's advertising for London's Kew Gardens, 1999
Visitors can book in for a day’s workshop with Kitching in typesetting, imposition and printing, from 15 June. Pictured left: Kitching’s cover for the Guardian Weekend magazine, 2001. Right: Kitching’s poster for The National Theatre, 2002
INFORMATION
'Alan Kitching – A Life in Letterpress' runs from 3 June – 20 August. For more information, visit the Lettering Arts Centre website
ADDRESS
The Lettering Arts Centre
Snape Maltings
Snape
Suffolk, IP17 1SP
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.
-
Cure your ‘beauty burnout’ with Kindred Black’s artisanal glassware
Does a cure for ‘beauty burnout’ lie in bespoke design? The founders of Kindred Black think so. Here, they talk Wallpaper* through the brand’s latest made-to-order venture
By India Birgitta Jarvis
-
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at Tate Modern
The 42-panel quilt, which commemorates those affected by HIV and AIDS, will be displayed in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in June 2025
By Anna Solomon
-
Nature sets the pace for Alex Monroe’s first sculpture exhibition
The British designer hops from jewellery to sculpture for his new exhibition at the Garden Museum, London. Here, he tells us why nature should be at the forefront of design
By Tianna Williams
-
Set in stone: Sekford and Salvatori carve out a timeline of typography
By Sujata Burman
-
Playful typography: MAD looks back on the 1960s and 70s
By Carly Ayres
-
The drawn word: SFMoMA tracks the modern evolution of typography
By Ann Binlot
-
A marked legacy: Monotype looks back at the work of Eric Gill
Monotype is staging a week-long celebration of Eric Gill and his most legendary works. Gill started working on Gill Sans in 1927 and produced Joanna a few years later, in 1930; both fonts have been since adopted by Monotype, which has continuously been adapting them to contemporary typographic needs, from different alphabets to new currency symbols, as well as use on digital platforms.
By Rosa Bertoli
-
The AIGA National Design Center in New York looks back on 100 years of typography
By Angela Riechers
-
Pencil to Pixel typography exhibition, New York
By Pei-Ru Keh