Subtraction.com

Gentlemen of Letters

A superb, engrossing, sixteen-minute documentary about the multi-generational tradition of hand-painted signs in Dublin, Ireland and the men who still brave cold, rain and terrible parking to carry it forward. The word “typography” isn’t uttered once (or I didn’t catch it, anyway), which says something about how these practitioners think about their work: it’s a craft steeped in hard-earned, manual skills — not a rarefied technical discipline. The movie is also rich with examples of the many beautiful hand-lettered signs throughout Dublin. Well worth a watch.

A lot of those signs are also captured on this Flickr account. Thanks to Brendan Redmond for the tip.

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