Celebrations were held in Heidelberg on the 18th June, 1998, to mark the 70th birthday of Adrian Frutiger, seminal typeface designer and design master. The birthday party took place at Heidelberg castle and was attended by his friends and prominent people from the world of type and typography. About 100 people from Europe and the USA were at the castle for the event.
The evening started with cocktails on the terrace of the castle. The castle is built high on the hillside outside Heidelberg town, and guests were able to enjoy the view of the town as the sun was setting. Hunting-horn music, performed by a group of players at one end of the terrace, added a charm to the event that could only have been successful in such a stately place.
After cocktails we were led from the terrace through the castle to the great hall, where dinner was served. Our walk took us from cavernous rooms with vaulted ceilings to corridors and stairwells. As we walked we passed objects from another time, such as a wine barrel the size of a small house. This had no doubt been essential for the smooth functioning of the castle staff at some past, but now it lies empty as a symbol of change.
Earlier in the day we had had a chance to attend a reception for the opening of an exhibition about one aspect of Adrian Frutiger’s work. The exhibition was called “Forms and Counter Forms” and featured a selection of over 50 drawings, wood carvings, and objects. Frutiger is very sparing in his use of forms, and the abstract depiction of animals and plants shown in the exhibition are the fruits of his musings about the cosmos and the ways of man.
One of Frutiger’s key strengths is that he is able to take contemporary trends and combine them with traditional forms to produce something fresh, timeless, and appealing to a very large audience: consider the typeface Univers. This ability has meant that his contribution to type design and typography has been considerable.
Another of Adrian Frutiger’s strengths is that he is well suited to the task of producing historically important type designs: he is unassuming, not at all self important, and capable of the kind of introspection, concentration, and focus that provide the conditions for really great work. This is how he put it in one of the speeches that he made during the celebrations: “If we actually notice type and design, they are not doing their job, because they are detracting from the content.” Needless to say, a good time was had by all. Dinner was a great success, Adrian Frutiger was obviously very touched by the fuss that had been made of him, and Bruno Steinert and his people from Linotype Library GmbH were perfect hosts.
As we left the great hall we were entertained by fireworks in the courtyard. The fireworks lit the stone walls of the castle and gave it a magical, almost fairyland quality. It was a fitting end to the event. Rain threatened and we hurried towards the waiting buses.
At the end of dinner all the participants were given a copy of an excellent book entitled “Forms and counterforms.” It has been made to accompany the exhibition we saw earlier in the celebrations. It contains some 250 illustrations, and is priced at CHF 116.- (or CHF 220.- for the limited edition); published by Syndor Press, Cham, Switzerland; e-mail: syndorpress@bluewin.ch. I recommend it highly.