Rudolf Spemann Prize 2021 awarded

Until Rudolf "Rudo" Spemann died as a Russian prisoner of war in 1947 at the age of 42, the type designer and calligrapher drew for the satirical weekly magazine Simplicissimus and designed typefaces such as Gavotte, which was published by the Klingspor brothers' type foundry in 1940. The Spemann family left his estate to the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main when it was founded in 1953. In return, the city of Offenbach has since awarded the Rudo Spemann Prize every two years, which has been awarded internationally since 1979. It is aimed at trainees in the field of type design. The aim is to maintain awareness of the expressiveness of handwriting and to recognize this accent of type design in the mirror of artistic forms of expression.

Last year, the task was "I want to vent - My appeal today, my appeal to tomorrow" and because the award ceremony could not take place in October due to corona with the announcement of the three prize winners, Dr. Stefan Soltek, former director of the Klingspor Museum, and Helga Horschig honored them on Friday, January 14, 2022, in a small setting at the Klingspor Museum. In addition to Ole Freytag, who presented his cape with the title "I think it is time to believe. But I am nervous that the answer is right in front of me. All this pain..." convinced the jury, Lisa Müller was awarded second prize for her embroidered message and Deniz Akinci was awarded third prize for his vehemently expressed attitude "Yes, I am German".