André Baldinger

André Baldinger studied typography in Zurich and type design at Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Paris. In 1995 he opened his own studio and in 2008, with Toan Vu-Huu, launched Baldinger•Vu-Huu graphic and typographic design studio. He teaches typography and type creation at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he co-founded the EnsadLab Type research laboratory, and at Zurich University of the Arts.

Baldinger has won the Swiss Federal Prize for Design, the Tokyo TDC Award and the Most Beautiful Swiss Books prize. His works are in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) in Paris, Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich and Museum of Modern Art in Toyama. Le Portique (the home of Le Havre’s regional contemporary art collection) showed work by the Baldinger•Vu-Huu duo in 2018.

Baldinger’s project at Villa Kujoyama established and tested the basic principles for a new Japanese-Latin type design, building on his study of historical sources and discussions with specialists in Japanese typography. His goal was to rethink the aesthetic considerations of the formal repertoire that had hitherto prevailed, and the changes that had occurred over the preceding twenty years, at the same time considering cultural heritage, the possibilities offered by new type creation tools, and changes in reading habits and media.