Writing! Art!
Offenbach has good reason to speak out in favor of book and type art. Far too little attention is paid to the essential fact that writing is always also a written image; namely the form, the color of writing and the way in which it is placed on paper. It can be a single sheet of paper or an entire book - the interplay of these individual aspects must always be brought into form - this is the only way to create readable text as an in-formation that is worth seeing. Depending on the approach and concept, it sometimes belongs to design, sometimes to the fine arts - either way, it opens up a multifaceted field of enormous range and beauty.
The Klingspor type foundry is at the heart of the Offenbach business and has a worldwide reputation. Run by the brothers Karl and Wilhelm since 1892, it developed into a forge (or rather a foundry) for typefaces whose design is so artistic in character that it is immediately clear that they illustrate the same spirit of their time as architecture and painting. The names of Peter Behrens, Otto Eckmann and Rudolf Koch alone stand for artistic achievements in the period after 1900, which manifest Offenbach as a specific place in art history. In 1953, the Klingspor Museum was founded - this is where those precious notebooks and books are kept that express the use of the aforementioned writings. These are supplemented by hundreds of other type specimens, creating a unique collection documenting type design in the 20th century. The Klingspor Museum enjoys a worldwide reputation as an incomparable destination for experts and anyone interested in the interplay of art, design and type.
