30 years of École Estienne's Typographie program - A look back at the workshop

To mark the 30th anniversary of the École Estienne typography program, a school supported by the City of Paris, a 5-day workshop on lapidary engraving was held in early March at the Villa Medici in Rome.

At a time when digital creation tends to accelerate the achievement of formal results, dematerialize the creative gesture and allow multiple backtracking, confronting the 24 students of the DSAA Typographe with stone helps them become aware of what the support conditions and what time shapes. Their gesture will be slow, but their support durable.

The workshop is an opportunity to bring together students from the two years of Typographe training for a time of integration and exchange that encourages the whole team to live together.

These five consecutive days of engraving are supervised by Franck Jalleau, type designer at the Imprimerie Nationale and founding teacher of the course, and Odile Bonal, associate professor of applied arts at the École Estienne.

Each student engraves on a mineral slab measuring approximately 50 by 30 cm, a sentence comprising around 15 letters. Choosing the words and drawing the associated shapes is an important preparatory stage. The stones used are locally produced.

The Fonds pour les Ateliers de Paris has decided to support this exemplary project with a €5,600 grant.