09/07 Typostammtisch (review)

Posted on 27 September 2007 in:

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Rob—a past UoR student—looks over the shoulder of a future UoR student.

I don’t particularly have very much to say about this month’s Typostammtisch, other than that it was enjoyable—as is normally the case—while seemingly serene; it will be my last one, at least for a while.

The back story

After the 2004 TYPO Berlin, Till, David, and I organized the Offenbach Typostammtisch. This may not have been the first “Typostammtisch” ever—members of the Forum Typografie have had one in Mainz for years—but it is the most well-known one, thanks to the Internet. This was also a spark that seems to have helped Ivo organize the much larger Typostammtisch that now meets almost as regularly in Berlin.

Our first meeting took place in June 2004 at the old Balalaika, in Frankfurt’s Sachsenhausen district. That bar has since moved to a new location, as have we. More images follow below. They tell a better story…

Actually, we had a much smaller, even earlier meeting… this was sort of the beta version of our Typostammtisch. It took place in Offenbach’s xo, about a week prior to our premiere. Christos was the only guest besides myself to ever make it to another one!

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David (right), Till, and I invited Lukas (left) to be a part of the Typostammtisch, and TypeOff., with us.

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Balaika was always really difficult to photograph. This is the only photo I have from the early Typostammtische. On the left is Lara, who was the fifth member of TypeOff., back when we still considered ourselves to be some sort of collective. Aside from this location, the Typostammtisch would go on over the next three years to meet at Comedia Mundi, the Künstlerkeller, Frankfurt’s former Literaturhaus, two different TYPOSITION. offices, the Klingspor Museum, and Försters, where we have probably met more often than anywhere else.

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We met twice at Comedia Mundi, along the banks of the river Main in Frankfurt. Till is on the left. The second time we convened here, the Typostammtisch had a total of 21 visitors, which was our largest turn-out ever.

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Tanja (second from left) and Peter (third from left) were the final two members to join TypeOff. They’ve been organizing most of what goes on at the Typostammtisch for a long time. The photograph above was taken at the old Literaturhaus in Frankfurt.

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This past Tuesday night saw another Typostammtisch at Försters in Offenbach. It was my last one before I head off to the UK. It was about average attendance-wise: 11 people were present at various points in the evening, including Christos, as well as Peter and Tanja, who will continue to organize these monthly meetings into the future.