Walter Haettenschweiler

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Walter "Haetti" Friedrich Haettenschweiler (born January 3, 1933 in Zug ; † October 7, 2014 ) was a Swiss graphic designer , type designer , illustrator , painter and sculptor . He is best known for his Haettenschweiler font .

life and work

Haettenschweiler grew up in Zug and from 1950 to 1955 completed the preliminary course and training as a graphic designer at the Zurich School of Applied Arts , for example with Ernst Keller and Lucie Scherrer-Knisel. He then worked as a house graphic artist at Kaffee Hag in Feldmeilen .

In 1957 Haettenschweiler founded his own “Studio for Advertising and Design” (later “Studio Walter F. Haettenschweiler”) in Zug. With this he was a member of the Association of Swiss Graphic Artists VSG and the International Center for the Typographic Arts (ICTA), awarded by the latter at Typomundus 20/2 (1970). The studio realized advertising and commercial graphics for a variety of very different customers, most of them from the Zug region. Haettenschweiler's influence on the appearance of the Zug region was significant: "Hardly anyone has shaped the face of the city and canton of Zug as much as Walter Haettenschweiler" writes Andreas Faessler in the obituary of the Zuger Zeitung . Haettenschweiler designed well-known logos and lettering for companies such as Hoppe AG in Müstair, gravel and concrete works Risi in Cham or Confiserie Speck in Zug.

Haettenschweiler also designed for various national organizations, such as a poster for the Basel Exhibition Center (1975), the logo of the Swiss Travel Agency Association and, between 1966 and 1993, various postage stamps for Swiss Post . An exhibition on Walter Haettenschweiler's graphic design, organized by the curatorial team DNS-Transport, was shown in 2006 with the Kunsthaus Zug and in 2007 with the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (with catalog).

Haettenschweiler became known to the specialist public worldwide through the four volumes of Lettera (1954–1972), a collection of title fonts, of which he edited volumes 2 to 4 with Armin Haab. Haettenschweiler's fonts are widely used thanks to Lettera . Stylistically, his font designs can be assigned to the so-called Swiss typography . "Walter Haettenschweiler is one of the most important title font designers in Switzerland in the 20th century," writes the typography specialist Rudolf Barmettler in the obituary of the magazine Zett . Most of his typefaces are registered with Swiss Type Design .

The font Schmalfette Grotesk , published only in capital letters in the first lettera in 1954, was used as the title font at Twen and Paris Match . In Microsoft Windows it is available in a revised form as Haettenschweiler (patented 1995), for example in the Word program (also with lowercase letters, in Greek and Cyrillic script). The Schmalfette Grotesk was re-edited in 2014 by Jason Walcott as Schmalfette CP .

Haettenschweiler was also active as a painter and draftsman throughout his life, with regular exhibitions and an artist's studio in Buonas on Lake Zug . He also realized several art works in the Zug region, such as a wall painting for V-Zug (1960), a group of sculptures for the Reformed Church in Zug (1968) and artistic wall designs for the Herti indoor swimming pool in Zug (around 1975) and the headquarters of Marc Rich in Zug (around 1980, including signage ). An overview catalog of his artistic work was published in 2000.

In 1959 he and Beatrice Schnieper married, the Haettenschweiler-Schnieper family lived in Steinhausen , Buonas and Zug and had five children.

At an advanced age, Haettenschweiler ran the Kunst & Krempel gallery in Zug. After his death in 2014, Haettenschweiler left an extensive legacy on his work in graphic design and typography and on his artistic work.

literature

  • Walter F. Haettenschweiler: Font & Logo [catalog]. Text: Martino Stierli. Zug: Studio Walter F. Haettenschweiler, 2006.
  • Walter F. Haettenschweiler [catalog]. Text: Walter Studerus, Markus Kündig. Zug: Edition Pacis, 2000.
  • Rudolf Barmettler: Font design by graphic designers. A look back at Walter Haettenschweiler's writing. In: tm rsi stm ( typographic monthly sheets ) 80 (No. 6, 2012), pp. 2–15.
  • Rudolf Barmettler: Obituary Walter Haettenschweiler. In: Zett (No. 1, 2015), pp. 54–55.
  • Armin Haab, Alex Stocker: Lettera. A standard book of fine lettering. Standard book of good utility fonts. Recueil de lettres et caractères. Alphabets drawn by Alex Stocker, Hans Gruber, Paul Sollberger, Walter Haettenschweiler. Teufen: Niggli, 1954
  • Armin Haab, Walter Haettenschweiler: Lettera 2. A standard book of fine lettering. Standard book of good utility fonts. Recueil de lettres et caractères. Teufen: Niggli, 1961.
  • Armin Haab, Walter Haettenschweiler: Lettera 3. A standard book of fine lettering. Standard book of good utility fonts. Recueil de lettres et caractères. Teufen: Niggli, 1968.
  • Armin Haab, Walter Haettenschweiler: Lettera 4. A standard book of fine lettering. Standard book of good utility fonts. Recueil de lettres et caractères. Teufen: Niggli, 1972.
  • Handbook for Swiss graphic designers and photographers. [Text: Hans Neuburg]. Hamburg: Markets and Media Publishing Company, 1971.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter F. Haettenschweiler [catalog]. Zug: Edition Pacis, 2000, p. 12.
  2. ↑ Andreas Faessler: He always wanted to be a craftsman. , Obituary in: Zuger Zeitung (November 28, 2014)
  3. ^ Walter F. Haettenschweiler: Font & Logo. Zug: Studio Walter F. Haettenschweiler, 2006.
  4. ^ MCH Group posters 1966-1990
  5. ^ Walter F. Haettenschweiler: Font & Logo. Zug: Studio Walter F. Haettenschweiler, 2006; see. DNS transport train .
  6. ^ Rudolf Barmettler: Obituary Walter Haettenschweiler. In: Zett (No. 1, 2015), pp. 54–55.
  7. ↑ Walter Haettenschweiler at swisstypedesign.ch
  8. ↑ cf. Rudolf Barmettler: Font design by graphic designers. In: tm rsi stm (typographic monthly sheets) 80 (No. 6, 2012), pp. 2–15, here pp. 10f.
  9. ^ Microsoft: Fonts, Haettenschweiler
  10. ↑ MyFonts Inc: narrow fats CP. Font family . Designers: Jason Anthony Walcott, Walter Haettenschweiler.
  11. ^ Walter F. Haettenschweiler. Zug: Edition Pacis, 2000.
personal data
SURNAME Haettenschweiler, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haettenschweiler, Walter Friedrich (full name); "Haetti" (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss type designer
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH train
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 2014