Buffalo Rising Online

Jul 24th, 4:18pm By BRO Reader Submission

Visitors from many countries spent the last week in Buffalo and had plenty to keep them occupied. The city embraced, entertained and at times baffled this group of visitors.

TypeCon kicked off with a sold out Pecha Kucha night at Hallwalls Cinema. Attendees were then invited to a spontaneous open house for WNYBAC with a special beer tasting provided by Flying Bison Brewery. Wednesday’s Stefan Sagmeister event at the Karpeles manuscript museum featured saucy posters from Hero design and saucier wings provided by La Nova. The hall was packed and warm but a great event by one of today’s most influential designers. Thursday saw the conference transported out to UB’s CFA for a presentation by Dutch design group NLXL. Their work is broad in scope and monumental in application. Friday featured Design guru Erik Spiekermann at the Albright-Knox Gallery for a free Friday event. His opinions are not subtle and highly entertaining. The evening of Friday featured Odiorne and the Seriffics at the Mohawk Place. All of those events, as posted for the last few months, were free and open to the public.

Those lucky enough to attend the rest of the conference were treated to a diverse selection of presentations including Dard Hunter III talking about his grandfathers influential work, Tony & David Rozak on visualization of DNA Structure using improved graphics, Font embedding for the Web, Metal type design, and dozens more topics & workshops. Tours of Forest Lawn Cemetary, City Hall and a spontaneous Legacy Letters Tour by Paul Shaw were well received and even awe inspiring from many we have spoken with.

Feedback from first time visitors to Buffalo include: “And Buffalo! What a story Buffalo must have to tell. I just got glimpses from buildings and streets, from history placards, etc. I want to know more about that city’s history. I’m much more interested in going to conferences in “out-of-the-way” places like Buffalo than to the great cities we all know so much about. Buffalo was as good as the conference.” Will Powers, Printing Historian

Buffalo as seen through the lenses of Type Afficionados

Reviews in newspapers

*: A few exhibits are still up for public viewing. The rare book exhibit at the BECPL is still up for viewing featuring A Shakespeare first folio, Gutenberg Bible leaf and the Kelmscott Chaucer. CEPA gallery has 2 exhibits: Ghost Signs from Hamilton Ontario and VCU student experimental typographic work. UBs CFA features the work of NLXL and “Type is art” is at 224 Allen St.

Typecon was given a Mayoral Proclamation: click here to see.

A welcome letter was issued from Senator Clinton... and Stefan Sagmeister was introduced by Sam Hoyt.

The conference wrapped up at the Roycroft Campus where visitors were treated to hospitality from the Roycroft Inn and demonstrations with craftspeople who could compare calligraphic techniques with Type nerds from around the world. A downright civilized end to a hectic week.