AIGA Honolulu was thrilled to welcome Ken Barber of Type & Lettering, master letterer, type designer and type director at House Industries. We had a great turnout at both events; the workshops sold out in less than a week! 

Known throughout the world as a prolific type foundry, House Industries has made a considerable impact on the world of design. House Industries fonts scream from billboards, wish happy whatever from tens of thousands of greeting cards, serve as the basis for consumer product logos and add elements of style to a wide range of mainstream media. A number of Ken’s typefaces have garnered him awards from the Type Directors Club and his work is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper Hewitt, National Museum collection. In his spare time he conducts lettering workshops all over the nation (Honolulu included!).

DESIGNER DIALOGUE with KEN BARBER

Designer Dialogue attendees played a surprisingly difficult game of “guess what font you are” that sweltering Thursday night, and then enjoyed Ken’s presentation of his stories of House Industries and Type & Lettering, fraught with suped-up vans, the freeing discovery of the word “knickers” and 420s hidden everywhere. Raffle winners scored big with totes, linen towels, valentine’s cards and coffee pennants designed by Ken (Sad you didn’t win anything? All the items are available for sale in the online shops at TypeLettering.com and HousInd.com).

Photos will be uploaded soon.

Thursday, July 16, 2015
Pupus: 5:30pm • Talk: 6:00pm
ProtoHUB Honolulu • 458 Keawe Street, 2nd Floor • Kaka‘ako

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A big Mahalo to Valenti Print Group for donating the postcard 

HAND-LETTERING IN HAWAII with KEN BARBER

Workshop attendees gathered in Manoa for a crash course in the art of hand-lettering and script lettering. Ken walked students through the background of drawn, written and machined letterforms and then gave a demonstration of his own modification techniques. Participants then got to give it a go themselves, with personal guidance from the master himself. The Brue coffee paired so nicely with fancy ice cream pops by Swell Cold Co-op. Those who signed up for the whole day also received a custom-designed T-shirt thanks to Clockwork Tees. 

Photos will be uploaded soon.

Saturday, July 18, 2015
The Drawn Letter: 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
The Script Letter: 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Manoa Innovation Center • 2800 Woodlawn Drive • Honolulu

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A big Mahalo to our sponsors for the workshops 

…and also to our event chair, Leslie Tamonte-Cariaga, as well as Matt Tapia and Mark Caneso for their assistance with marketing and signage.