The Lettering and Commemorative Arts Trust’s exciting new shop and gallery space at Snape Maltings in Suffolk has a new exhibition – Masters and Apprentices. It emphasises the importance of passing on skills, and focuses on the seven letter carving apprentices funded through the Trust, as well as four generations of Masters, tracing their skills back to Edward Johnston and the British Arts & Crafts Revival.  The exhibition is on until 29^th June 2014. A fully illustrated catalogue is available.

There are few, if any, recognised qualifications for letter carving, yet it is one of the oldest of skills, going back to ancient times. Throughout history trainers working in letter carving have been passing on the skills and knowledge to trainees, yet due to that lack of qualifications, it is impossible to tap into government funding to learn the craft.

LCAT have done extremely well to have put seven apprentices through training, and the work of some of these and their masters is on show in this exhibition. The exhibition’s curator, Gary Breeze, has emphasised skills transfer from Edward Johnston, who many regard as the father of modern calligraphy, working at the first half of the last century, and who was a great influence on his one-time student and then colleague and friend, the sculptor, letter carver and letter designer Eric Gill. David Kindersley trained and worked with Eric Gill, and also trained many others including his wife, Lida Cardozo Kindersley.

Photographs by David Holgate