Alongside designing books, Françoise Berserik has worked for many years as a lettercarver – making signs, memorials, gravestones to commission. She has also taught lettercarving to students on the Type and Media course at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Art) in The Hague. They take it seriously there: this course is not an optional extra. Now, with the support of the Academy, she has written and published a handbook on this practice, written specifically for type design students and illustrated with their work.

Lettercarving for type designers is a down-to-earth handbook. If you know nothing about lettercarving, the book will tell you what you need to know to get started, and how to make progress. As a book, it’s a fine example of ego-free collaborative work. Françoise is the main author and designer here, but there are other authors (listed in the extended subtitle), and the book was typeset and made into pages by Marjo Starink (a friend and colleague from their student days at Arnhem). Drawn illustrations are by Françoise’s brother Teun (a vastly experienced illustrator and cartoonist). The typeface used, Fresco Sans, was designed by another old friend and colleague, Fred Smeijers. Editing was done by Henk Pel (another old friend and colleague), with additional help from friends and colleagues in England, including the present writer. I can add that I saw Françoise working here just as she worked on Hyphen Press books – in a spirit of equality and open-mindedness. Even if you never plan to pick up a chisel, I can recommend Lettercarving for type designers. It is nicely printed and bound to the best Dutch standards.

Françoise Berserik, Lettercarving for type designers: a handbook; with contributions by Pip Hall, Peter Verheul, Erik van Blokland, Lars van Blokland, Omaima Dajani, Léna Le Pommelet, and the students of Type and Media; illustrations by Teun Berserik; photography by Marjo Starink, Marja van der Burgh; The Hague: Erven Berserik Uitgeverij, 2024

Copies from be bought from De Beeldhouwwinkel, Maanweg 68, 2516AA Den Haag
and from their website

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Robin Kinross
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