Evolve (Stamp Sheet)

EVOLVE is an exploration in transforming established systems into new structures that cultivate imagination and action. Its composition reflects a desire to create fluid motion from the rigid, exacting grid that undergirds the process of handset, physical type. Letterforms, stripped of their symbolic relationships, are reimagined as the building blocks of new letterforms and morph into new meanings that create a dynamic expression of the concept of evolution.

The viewer is provoked by the perforated structure to continue the catharsis of destruction/reconstruction by ripping the “precious” letterpress print into pieces, then rearranging them to create a new structure — deciding along the way which parts to keep, and which to discard.

This limited edition of faux postage stamp sheets was letterpress printed using wood and metal type on a 1903 Colt’s Armory platen press. The typefaces used are 60pt Romany Script (lowercase L); 36pt Murray Hill (capital L); 72pt Spartan Black Condensed (capital I, period); 12pica Gothic Extra Extra Condensed (exclamation marks); 8pica Gothic Extra Condensed (capital I); 15pica Antique Condensed (capital V); and various sizes of Huxley Vertical (capital U).

Designed, typeset & letterpress printed by Amy Redmond on perforated, gummed paper using a Colt’s Armory platen press.

SIZE: 6 x 4 inches
YEAR: 2022