"God creates brain not religion; use your brain"
It was the opening 60 years of book design in St.Gallen on the 16th of June, 2011 at AIGA National Design Center, featuring a great master Rudolf Hostettler (the editor of Typografische Monatsblätter from 1951 through 1981) and master Jost Hochuli with his students works.It was the first time I met Jost Hochuli in person after talked with him via Skype for NEWWORK MAGAZINE issue 5. He greeted me with a warm smile. At the age of 77, he was still full of energy, he explained about the book twice in English and in Germany.
After party we had dinner together and he explained "Simplicity not only has to be timeless but special. We don't have to follow the rule but we must know the rule. When we break the rule we must have a reason."
On the next day we went to MET and on the way, I offered Hochuli a seat. He said "I am not that old.When someone offers you a seat means that you are getting old." At the MET he turned be my tour guide, he explained the art work with a great passion. He pointed to painting of Benjamin Franklin's and he said he was a typesetter. His stories were very inspiring. During the lunch time he explained "I have never planed to design a beautiful book, the most important is the function how people look at it."
At that night, Jost Hochuli, Roland Stieger and Swiss miss spoke about Type Town: 60 years of book design in st.Gallen, Switzerland. I was honored to be a special guest for his lecture. He explained about his design philosophy. I have always inspiring by Asymmetry and symmetrical design. I found a new way to see and design. St.Gallen wasn't influence with neither Basel nor Zurich design. Their design has no dogma.
I spent couple days with him and I am not only inspired by his design but his attitude. He mentioned that he still need to read and learn different kind of literature. At the age of him, he is still hungry of learning. He said he still want to live 20 years more to learn. I wish he would have a long live ahead.
I have featured of his book design. It always nice to see his design. It's elegant but yet very warm to look at it.
Pictures via Roland Stieger