As part of the Summer University, first-year students from ECAL’s Master Type Design programme travelled to Bangkok for a week of encounters, workshops, studio visits and explorations of the city’s typographic landscape.
The programme began with several Type Walks led by Santi, allowing students to explore Bangkok through its signs, lettering and everyday typographic environments. We also met with students from the Communication Design programme at Chulalongkorn University for a lecture and an exchange of ideas on graphic and type design practices. Visits to the studios of Cadson Demak and Studio 150 offered insights into different approaches to contemporary type design in Thailand, as well as how local cultural and linguistic contexts shape design practices.
The stay continued with two hands-on workshops. With Boom, students experimented with Thai lettering, exploring the distinctive structures and expressive possibilities of the script. At RRU, Jinsilp introduced them to Thai calligraphy, offering an opportunity to approach writing through gesture, rhythm and the materiality of the practice.
This week gave students the opportunity to discover Thai typography both in the classroom and in the studio, as well as in the streets of Bangkok, connecting research, practice and exchange with a new cultural and linguistic context. Many thanks to Santi, Boom, Cadson Demak, Studio 150, Jinsilp, and the students and teachers at Chulalongkorn University for their warm welcome and for sharing their knowledge with us.
