The typographer and calligrapher Hermann Zapf has died. Here, from Quartz, is a look at his work (it includes a 1967 film of Zapf drawing letters). Hermann Zapf, as in Optima, Palatino, Zapf Dingbats, and Zapfino.
Don’t look for premiums or
coupons, as the cost of
the thoughts blended in
ORANGE CRATE ART pro-
hibits the use of them.
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comments: 3
This is a fascinating gorgeous little film. I liked seeing his "normal" handwriting, as he made notes on the letters he had just drawn. It's also interesting that he is positive about the ballpoint, which I see as having destroyed handwriting. (I never ever use a ball point, which makes it good when my wife has misplaced her pen, because she knows I would never touch it)
Is his name the source for, or related to, the word zaftig?
His “normal” handwriting makes me feel like a first-grader.
Someone who knows more about German might know about zaftig. M-W traces the Yiddish zaftik to zaft, which goes back to saf. Whether that‘s close to the name Zapf or far removed, I don’t know.
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