While having workshops with patients at a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland, artist François Dey together with the patients experimented with different forms of being, of collaborating together and creating a typeface with plants. The hospital site itself a public botanical alike garden is surrounded by mountains and a forest which used to be a granite quarry. Early on, the geological society had asked for a cessation of mining activities on the erratic rocks brought by the ice 15.000 years ago. The vegetation has now taken over the ruins of pathways and walls build in order to reach and dispatch the granite stones.
During one of their first walks François grabbed a liana and brought it back to his studio. Another time they went on harvesting them together and started braiding what they later figured were wild clematis plants. This then became one of the materials they experimented with. Pulling the long stretched 12 meters long liana forward. By bending they formed letters together. The alphabet seen as a structure we all shared as well as a platform. Reflections came later about why we thought we were allowed to harvest this plant which was denominated as invasive but started to look more and more human. The plant uses support of other trees in order to grow. In April its flowers pop up on the top of other trees. Finally, the group started working with brooms as well, doing dance choreographies, drawings and they formed the numbers for this font.
François Dey has published his research material of this project in a small booklet Carnet de Residence #5, stencil printed by Erwin Blok.
DESIGNER: FRANÇOIS DEY
YEAR: 2022
FORMAT: OTF, WOFF, WOFF2
LANGUAGE: LATIN
