Staff Profile:Professor Eric Kindel
- Name:
- Professor Eric Kindel
- Job Title:
- Head of Department
- Responsibilities:
In addition to my role as Head of Department, I teach studio-based design practice and lecture on topics across the undergraduate programme, supervise BA and MA dissertations, and supervise research students. I also serve as curator of the Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection.
- Areas of Interest:
My research takes in several areas of interest: the graphic design of information, with an emphasis on aspects of Isotype; informal and alternative print methods, with a specialism in the history of stencils and stencilling; and the inventive intersection of design and print production.
Graphic information. Between 2007 and 2011 I served as Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded project 'Isotype revisited' (together with Co-Investigator Prof. Sue Walker). The project's main outcomes included Otto Neurath's From hieroglyphics to Isotype: a visual autobiography (Hyphen Press, 2010), the exhibition 'Isotype: international picture language' (V&A, 2010-11), and the multi-authored Isotype: design and contexts, 1925-1971 (Hyphen Press, 2013). During the project my own research focused on Isotype activities in British colonial West Africa. This research is summarised in 'Isotype in Africa: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Western Region of Nigeria, 1952-8', a chapter in Isotype: design and contexts.
Research in this area is presently focused on Isotype contributions to British publishing in the context of postwar reconstruction and economic development, with an emphasis on 'Future Books' and Future magazine (1946-52). The research encompasses a comparative study of graphic information made by leading designers for other mid-century periodicals, most notably Fortune magazine in the USA.
Stencils and stencilling. Research into the history of stencils and stencilling as used principally for lettering and marking out texts has been in progress since 1999 and is wide-ranging. My aim is to establish a reliable account of such work across a wide expanse of time, context and location. I regularly publish investigations into individual episodes of stencil work that will eventually form a summary history. The research has extended to collecting artefacts and reconstructing techniques to support historical and physical interpretation. Aspects of the research have been funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, American Philosophical Society, Printing Historical Society and University of Reading's Research Endowment Trust Fund, and has involved long-term collaborations with Prof. James Mosley and Prof. Fred Smeijers.
Research in this area is presently focused on three topics: the development of stencil-making in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, highlighting the work of Jean Gabriel Bery; the stencilled poster in France in the 19th century (with Pierre Pané-Farré); and the typical French stencil letters and numerals made famous by painters, architects and designers. For a presentation on early stencil makers in Europe, see here. For a presentation on 19th-century stencilled posters in Paris, see here. For a presentation on the typical French stencil letters and numerals, see here.
- Research groups / Centres:
- Publications:
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YNumber of items: 29.
2018
- Kindel, E. (2018) Eminents observed: a century of writing, lettering, type and typography at the Central School, London. In: Kindel, E. (ed.) Typeform Dialogues (2nd edition). Hyphen Press, London, pp. 50-87. ISBN 9780907259527
- Kindel, E., ed. (2018) Typeform Dialogues (2nd edition). Hyphen Press, London.
2017
- Kindel, E. (2017) Future, Fortune, and the graphic design of information. In: Black, A., Luna, P., Lund, O. and Walker, S. (eds.) Information Design: Research and Practice. Routledge, pp. 127-146. ISBN 9781472430700
2014
- Kindel, E. (2014) Stencil dies: new tools for an old trade. In: Blume, J., Pané-Farré, P. and Smeijers, F. (eds.) Vom Buch auf die Strasse: Grosse Schrift im öffenlichen Raum (Journal der HGB #3). Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig, pp. 41-61, 127–145 (colour images); 193–210 (English text).
2013
- Kindel, E. (2013) The description of stencilling by Gilles Filleau des Billettes: transcription and translation. In: Kindel, E. and Luna, P. (eds.) Typography papers 9. Hyphen Press, London, pp. 66-86. ISBN 9780907259480
- Kindel, E. and Luna, P., eds. (2013) Typography papers, 9. Hyphen Press, London. ISBN 9780907259480
- Kindel, E. (2013) A tradition with breaks. Eye Magazine, 22 (86). pp. 38-55. ISSN 0960-779X
- Kindel, E. (2013) A reconstruction of stencilling based on the description by Gilles Filleau des Billettes. In: Kindel, E. and Luna, P. (eds.) Typography papers 9. Hyphen Press, London, pp. 28-65. ISBN 9780907259480
- Kindel, E. (2013) Isotype in Africa, 1952–58. In: Burke, C., Kindel, E. and Walker, S. (eds.) Isotype: design and contexts, 1925–1971. Hyphen Press, London. ISBN 9780907259473
- Burke, C., Kindel, E. and Walker, S., eds. (2013) Isotype: design and contexts 1925–1971. Hyphen Press, London, pp554. ISBN 9780907259473
2012
- Kindel, E., ed. (2012) Typeform dialogues. Hyphen Press, London, pp48. ISBN 9780907259152
- Kindel, E., ed. (2012) Typeform dialogues. Hyphen Press, London. ISBN 9780907259152
- Kindel, E. (2012) User's manual. In: Kindel, E. (ed.) Typeform dialogues. Hyphen Press, London, pp. 5-36, 48 p.. ISBN 9780907259152
- Kindel, E. and Smeijers, F. (2012) Between writing and type: the stencil letter. [Show/Exhibition]
2011
- Kindel, E. (2011) Reaching the people: Isotype beyond the West. In: Heinrich, R., Nemeth, E., Pichler, W. and Wagner, D. (eds.) Image and Imaging in Philosophy, Science and the Arts. Publications of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, new series, vol. 17, 2 (17). Ontos Verlag, Frankfurt, Paris, Lancaster, New Brunswick, pp. 175-193. ISBN 9783868381160
2010
- Kindel, E. (2010) Fit to be seen: stencils for architects, engineers and surveyors. AA Files, 61. pp. 100-109. ISSN 0261-6823
- Kindel, E. and Walker, S. (2010) Isotype revisited. Il progetto sugli aspetti meno conosciuti di Isotype. Progetto grafico, 18. pp. 48-57. ISSN 1824-1301
- Burke, C., Kindel, E. and Walker, S. (2010) Isotype: international picture language. [Show/Exhibition]
2009
- Kindel, E. (2009) Delight of men and gods: Christiaan Huygens's new method of printing. Journal of the Printing Historical Society, 14 (new se. pp. 5-40.
2007
- Kindel, E. (2007) The 'Plaque Decoupee Universelle': a geometric sanserif in 1870s Paris. In: Typography Papers 7. Hyphen Press, pp. 71-80. ISBN 9780907259336
2006
- Kindel, E. (2006) Cheap Jack Flash. Eye, 60. pp. 46-51.
- Kindel, E. (2006) Patents progress: the Adjustable Stencil. Journal of the Printing Historical Society, 9 (new ser. pp. 65-92.
2005
- Kindel, E. (2005) Ishihara. Eye Magazine, 56. pp. 18-23. ISSN 0960-779X
2004
- Kindel, E. (2004) Worlds of moiré. Eye, 52. pp. 18-27.
2003
- Kindel, E. (2003) Hoofdletters, tweeling- en meerlingdruk. Eye, 47. pp. 30-37. ISSN 0950-222X
- Kindel, E. (2003) Recollecting stencil letters. In: Typography Papers 5. University of Reading, Reading, pp. 65-101.
2002
- Kindel, E. (2002) Stencil work in America, 1850–1900. Baseline (38). pp. 5-12. ISSN 0954-9226
- Kindel, E. (2002) When 1+1=3. Eye Magazine, 11 (43). pp. 36-45. ISSN 0960-779X
2001
- Kindel, E. (2001) Marked by time. Eye Magazine, 10 (40). pp. 48-51. ISSN 0960-779X
Qualifications:
BFA, MA