THE WORKSHOP
- THE PAST IS PRESENT IN THE FUTURE.
- In the vertiginous flow of technology and of graphic computing, the abiding rule is to pursue the unimaginable, with an eye always on the future. This is also the pursuit of Oficina Tipográfica São Paulo. However, once we look back, in order to rescue visual language from the old system of typographic composition and printing, so as to rehabilitate it not only as a valuable resource of style but also as a priceless method of visual cognition, we are also pointing towards the solution of one of the problems that affects culture and the visual arts, namely that of a departure from originality.
Along this path we are continuously reconnecting to the origins, re-living classic typography and its fundamental principles, which have forged thought in visual-graphic communication. In this scenario, graphic computing represents a very helpful, let alone ground-breaking, tool. It has, however, by incorporating its technical procedures into the practice of graphic work, reinforced another movement of departure, in that it has further separated designers from printers.
In this system, the “creative” world experiences greater autonomy than the “technical” one.
Closed files – the name itself already suggests a lack of contact – are devised by artists that oppose graphic technicians, who, in turn, are fully absorbed in the problems which production informatization usually presents. The ideal of bringing these two worlds together again was made possible by the association of OTSP and the Escola Senai de Artes Gráficas Theobaldo De Nigris.
Set up in 2004, OTSP is today a non-governmental organization dedicated to teaching and to experimentation, by combining classic typography with graphic computing. Besides offering courses and developing graphic products and editorials, OTSP makes its equipment available for collaborative graphic work with other NGOs. It also renders services on contract to offices and agencies.
OTSP’s collection has merged with Senai’s, and currently comprises 4 typographic printers, which also perform cuts and creases, 2 Linotypes, and more than a hundred drawers with many kinds of wood and metal type.
Senai offers indispensable technical support and infrastructure for the production of photopolymer clichés and finishing.
More images on Flickr - OTSP
ABOUT US
- Marcos Mello - Director-President
- Visual artist and graphic designer. Graduated from Waldorfschulen, with a training degree in Graphic Arts. B.A. in Visual Arts, Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP); B.A. in Pedagogy, Unicastelo; and M.A. in Graphic Design, Faculdade de Belas Artes, São Paulo. He is Master in Education, Art and Cultural History from Faculdade Presbiteriana Mackenzie; Professor at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, as well as collaborator with Tupigrafia magazine.
- Cláudio Rocha - Director-Vice-President
- Graphic designer, specialized in typography. Partner-Director of Now Design, author of Projeto Tipográfico, Trajan, Franklin Gothic and Tipografia Comparada, all published by Edições Rosari. He has participated in events in Brazil and abroad as guest-lecturer, and has also organised the Brazilian Typography Congress – DNA Tipográfico I – in 2003, and the Latin American Typography Congress – DNA Tipográfico II – in 2005. Co-editor of Tupigrafia magazine.
