Italian Typographic Heritage. A Contribution to Its Recognition and Interpretation as Part of Design Heritage

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, parallel to digital technology developments and growing concern about sustainability, design literature recorded a renewed interest in early typographic practices, such as letterpress printing, handmade paper and binding, and short-run editions. This interest materialised in various ways: the digital revival of historical typefaces; 3d printing of physical type; ‘independent’ letterpress printers; and archives, collections and museums dedicated to type and typography. This state of affairs provided new perspectives and concerns for design as a field responsible, among other things, for the conception and production of printed artefacts. It also posed a call for new ways of capturing and describing the multiple aspects of typographic culture and history. One of the main sites where typography developed historically in Europe, is the city of Venice and the Veneto region, where pioneer letterpress printers and type designers, such as Aldo Manuzio and Francesco Griffo, as well as important binders, paper mills and ink manufacturers have worked since the fifteenth century. This article presents and discusses the results of a research project that examined how design studies.