In 2010, Richard Kindersley created a display for Contemporary Applied
Arts in London that traced the development of the alphabetic script in
Western cultures through a study of Roman inscriptive traditions. Kindersley used drawing, letter rubbing, carving and printed letter text to draw the viewer into relationship with the shape and patterning of letterform in physical space. Material histories and creative processes were demonstrated in the conjunction of objects which, unlike the collage from Lab Craft, deepened a sense of presence of not just the objects but individual words: ‘Words: hard and lovely as diamonds (which) demand to be seen, freed in space; words are wild, sentences tame them’. Works such as these show us the direct links between visual and verbal expression.
