Lettering with Herman
Workshop with Gor Jihanian and Sargis Antonian
How could the gallery show on Herman Vahramian close without addressing his graphic design and typographic legacy? In this closing workshop, AHA collective invites type designers Gor Jihanian and Sargis Antonian to the gallery to reflect, discuss, play with and hand-sketch letterforms inspired by Herman’s design thinking.
Drawing from Eastern philosophy and the principle of void in Iranian visual, architectural, and intellectual traditions, Herman approached composition from a spiritual and poetic dimension. Unlike the rationalist framing of white space in Western modernism, specially in the Swiss school, Herman’s grid sought balance and poetic interplay between the graphic and communication elements composing the paper.
For symposium posters, the lettering of the title often served as the central carrier of meaning and the primary design element. The rest, venue, program, schedule, would flow organically around it, with clarity and efficiency. As in his paintings, white space dominated the layout, inviting contemplation of the central artwork.
This sensibility extended to all of Herman’s editorial design work, like the 1977 Ararat publication, where beyond the layout design, his paintings engaged in dialogue with Ludwig Bazil’s music and poems by Armenian authors across time. Herman’s lifelong exploration and articulation of his “Theory of Colours” found expression in this total art show publication, where, as Italian art critic and editor Vanni Scheiwiller says, “his pure whites, the compendium of every colour, and his luminous blacks, shiny absence that is almost mental or even musical, are to be listened to. Just as one listens to silences.”
This lettering workshop is open to anyone interested in language, alphabets, composition, and how to reveal the musicality of the commonly considered mute colours, yet sonorous black and white. The workshop will be entirely paper-based, with hand sketching, no computers involved.
Free entrance but space is limited. Please register with the link below.
-
Gor Jihanian is an independent type designer fascinated by the synthesis of tradition and technology. After completing an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, Gor began actively researching and developing Armenian typefaces – tracing the unique and dispersive history of the script from the Armenian Highlands across the Diaspora. Through cross-cultural collaboration, he focuses efforts on helping revitalise Armenian language and culture for a global context.
Sargis Antonian is a graphic designer and typographer whose work explores the renewal of Armenian typography by adapting the 5th-century alphabet to the needs of contemporary design. His creations span visual identity, editorial design, poster art, and digital products and have become key expressions of contemporary Armenian visual culture, visible across Yerevan’s public spaces, exhibitions, and digital platforms. A longtime art director at Yerevan Magazine and a close collaborator with AHA collective, Sargis brings a spirit of experimentation and generosity to every creative endeavor.
