John Warwicker (Issue 10) has recently been busy helping bring to Melbourne an exhibition of ‘20 Years of Typo-graphics from the Tokyo Type Directors’ Club‘. John, who was the first foreigner to be invited to join the club, says of the exhibition, “the work is pretty fab and never been seen in the West”. Over its duration, several other members will be in town to give talks etc. For the typophiles amongst you (and we suspect there are a few like us) this is an amazing opportunity to see the work of some of the true greats.

5 April - 5 May 2007
Monash Arts & Design Gallery
900 Dandenong Rd, Caulfield East, VIC

John Warwicker : Issue Ten : Introduction

It might seem ridiculous for someone widely regarded as one of the world’s best designers to admit, “I don’t know what design is at all”, but John Warwicker understands that embracing the ‘not knowing’ can be your greatest strength. Whether you’re familiar with the work of Tomato (of which John was a founding member in 1991) or not, you’ll no doubt appreciate taking a walk inside his mind. There’s something deeply reassuring in hearing that even someone of John’s calibre, and who has the world’s most design-savvy corporations as clients, is as unsure of his abilities as the rest of us. He too struggles with the difficulties inherent in balancing the demands of a commercial career with nurturing one’s own creativity. John was creative director of Da Gama (1981-1984), head of Art and Video at A&M Records (1984-1987), creative director of Vivid I.D. (1987-1991) and was the first foreigner to be admitted into the Japanese Type Directors’ Club. He directs short films and commercials, designs album covers, treats type like oil on canvas, is about to have his first monograph published, and, after spending most of his career in London, has recently moved to Melbourne… for love… Df

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