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Typeface

The Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI personifies cultural preservation, rural re-birth and the lineage of American graphic design. At Hamilton, international artisans meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.

In rural Wisconsin, a lone employee waits in a cavernous old museum for visitors to come. A few individuals straggle in every few days and then, come Friday, the museum fills with life. Machines hum, presses print, artists buzz about. One weekend each month, the quiet of Two Rivers is interrupted as carloads of artisans drive in from across the Midwest. The place comes alive as printmaking workshops led by, and filled with, some of the nation’s top design talent descend on the sleepy enclave.

In a time when people can carry computers in their pockets and watch TV while walking down the street, Typeface dares to explore the twilight of an analog craft that is freshly inspiring artists in a digital age. The Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI personifies cultural preservation, rural re-birth and the lineage of American graphic design. At Hamilton, international artisans meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique. But the Museum’s days may be numbered. What is the responsibility of artists and historians to preserve a dying craft? How can rural towns survive in a shifting industrial marketplace where big-box retailers are king?

Filmmakers

Editor

Liz Kaar

Director of Cinematography

Tom Bailey

Sound

Zak Piper

Outreach Coordinator

Ian Kibbe

Media

Awards and Distinctions

Reframe Peterborough International Film Festival (Ontario)

Official Selection

2011

1st Festival of Letters (Ljubljana)

Official Selection

2010

4th Congreso Internacional De TipografĂ­a

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Agon Archaeological Film Festival (Greece)

Official Selection

2010

Arnolfini Design Lecture Series (Bristol)

Distinction

Selected Film

2010

Brisbane Design Week

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Geneva Film Festival (IL)

Official Selection

2010

Lake County Film Festival

Official Selection

2010

Liverpool Design Festival

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Midwest Emmy Awards

Nominee

Best Documentary: Current Significance

2010

Oslo National Academy of the Arts Design Festival

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Promaxdba Conference

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

State of Design Festival (Melbourne)

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Sydney Design Festival

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Typography Symposium (Germany)

Distinction

Special Screening

2010

Wisconsin Film Festival

Official Selection

2010

Flyway Film Festival

Winner

Best Documentary

2009

International Film Festival Breda

Distinction

Sneak Preview

2009

New Orleans Film Festival

Distinction

Special Screening

2009

Typecon

Distinction

Opening Event

2009