With World Calligraphy Day to be held at The Pen Museum, Birmingham on tomorrow (Wednesday 16th August), Manuscript Pen Company looks back at the origins of the artistry.
Calligraphy, that dates back to around 600BC, has had a revolution in recent times, seeing crafty hands put their talents to creating scrapbooks, invitations, birthday cards and public displays. Although writing is ‘rumoured’ to have taken a decline in recent times, calligraphy seems to have taken a massive boost through its mixture of artistic bonuses as well as positive implementations for mental and physical health.
Charles Stockbridge, Managing Director of Manuscript Pen Company and Founder of World Calligraphy Day said, “calligraphy has encouraged a whole new generation to get creative and take their time to create something unique. There’s been a fight against digital trends and we’ve been one of the first to champion that. We wanted to take the stigma away from calligraphy. People have always perceived it as difficult, but calligraphy is fun for all ages and can be unique from person to person.”
It is estimated that during the 19th century over 75 per cent of the world was using nibs that were created in the ‘Second City’ and during the latter part of the 1800’s, there were over 100 pen creators in Birmingham.
As such, Birmingham and The Pen Museum was seen as the ideal place to hold the inaugural World Calligraphy Day, putting the cities stationery heritage back on the map. The event will see a host of specialists come together at the Jewellery Quarter site to run a selection of workshops for both experienced artists and beginners alike.
Joyce Lee of Artsynibs, Alice Mazilli of Ampersand Alice, artist, designer and letterer Rob Draper, traditional calligrapher Stephen Duckett, Contemporary Italian Calligrapher Sandro Bonomo and handwriting specialist Sandra Grayson will all be on hand to navigate you through the beautiful work and history of calligraphy in their own unique styles and forms.
Jeremy Collingridge will also be giving expectant visitors the history of their valued items. The free event, which includes all workshops, starts at 11am till 4pm, where more information about pen creation throughout the globe, calligraphy and writing will be available with experts on hand.
More information about the event can be found at http://bit.ly/2tB5rIJ
