For the first in our series of Handmade Type Workshop contributor interviews, we spoke to Mr Yen (aka Jonathan Chapman) – a papercutting master from Leeds – who tells us more about his work and the resurgence of handmade styles in graphic design.
What led you to making ‘handmade type’?
I have always been interested in typography and letter forms, I find the mix of curves and angles of letters and text very interesting and inspirational. I started making papercut typography as I wanted to experiment with letters in a different medium. When creating a papercut template my designs are pared down to their basic shapes, which helps me to cut the right pieces out, and it is this thinking that type and typography is just a mixture of curves and lines that appeals to me.
What are you favourite materials to use?
My favourite materials to use are good quality paper and my trusty scalpel. I love all types of paper for different reasons and I think that there’s a type of paper to suit every need. The simplicity of only using one form of material pushes my creativity, while the variety of papers available makes a wide range of ideas and concepts a reality.
What (or who) inspires your work?
Since I began creating, even before I started creating papercuts, I have always been inspired by the minimal and pared down Japanese aesthetic – which is evident in the name Mr Yen. It’s the simplicity and focus on materials that I find inspirational, alongside a variety of other things such as floral and botanical things. I find simple fonts with interesting serifs or bold angles to be very inspiring and the illustrations of people like Charley Harper and Lucienne Day have inspired my love of angles and curves. I’m really interested in the mix of the traditional and the modern, the new and the old and the natural and man made – I think these combinations often create the most interesting outcomes.
There seems to be a trend for all things handmade in design at the moment, why do you think this is?
I think the main interest in all things hand made currently stems from the recession. People want to be more connected to companies and know where the things they are buying come from. They want to know that when they are spending money, it’s on a quality item and that if there is a problem with it, it will be dealt with quickly and in a more personal way. I also feel people go to small independent companies as they can relate more to something they feel they could create themselves, plus the customer service from small businesses is more focused and positive (in my opinion) Other reasons I feel all things hand made are popular are because people want to create these things themselves. They buy books on crafts, seek out DIY tutorials on blogs and give these things a go, which I think is helped along greatly with the ease of finding inspiration and information in today’s society.
What projects are you working on now and what does the future hold for Mr Yen?
At the moment I am working on a series of goals and aims to be completed before this year is over. I created a blog post detailing all these things, such as creating a papercut book cover, creating a papercut Christmas window display and creating some papercut designs for a cosmetics company. I have been asking for help from anyone who could make these things possible and if anyone could, I would be grateful if they got in touch or if someone wanted me to create any of these things for them, to just send me an email to discuss their ideas.
I would like the future of Mr Yen to focus on large scale papercuts, window displays and to get a book of floral papercuts published. I hope to achieve this by developing my skills and techniques by constantly experimenting. I’m always on the look out for interesting paper based projects!
Want to learn how to papercut? Check out Mr Yen’s tutorial in
Handmade Type Workshop and discover more at his website, blog and shop.
Taking font creation back to basics, Charlotte Rivers‘ new book explores innovative ways to design contemporary lettering of all kinds, examining everything from classic design examples to 3D and illustrated fonts, digital lettering and radical conceptual alphabets.
Handmade Type Workshop is ideal for anyone looking to move beyond existing typography and fonts to create, explore and use original or customized letterforms and available now from our website.