Yesterday evening Gerard Unger was deservedly awarded the S[o]TA Award, and joins an illustrious group of previous recipients. I had the pleasure of following John Downer and Juliet Shen with a few words. He later asked me if I’d written it down, and I responded that I only had headings noted:
Not possible to read, so here’s an exact transcription; some day I’ll have to write this up:
— Why?
— Excellence in design practice
* Longevity (40)
* Identity
* Integrity — work founded on deep engagement
* Establishment of a genre [even in Dutch environment
* Contribution to our innate sense of “rightness”
— Teaching
* Rietveld, __Rdg__, Leiden
* immersion in st[u]d[ent] processes
* openness
* sharing
* absence of ego
— Writing
* engaging with discourse
* strong inv[olvement] w[ith] how we read
* defining the field [of typeface design]
* leaving texts for reflect[ion]
I realize these notes don’t make much sense, but they give the outline of my thoughts yesterday.