Known primarily for being one of the best typographers of all time, German typographer Erik Spiekermann has created dozens of iconic typefaces for both commercial and corporate clients that many have come to recognize; he was also among those interviewed in Gary Hustwit’s 2007 documentary Helvetica.
The designer, who Monocle Magazine has called the “world’s most celebrated living typographer“, was recently commissioned by the German concept label Unamono to create a line of men’s scarves and pocket squares that, unsurprisingly, are inspired by scales, grids and units that are all used in the design process.
The collection, which is aptly titled “The Measure of Things“, consists of literal graph paper designs that have been overlaid onto the scarves and pocket squares – scales, grids, units, digits and all.
“The idea behind the designs was to make the syntax of the work visible,” says the designer. “When I see an image by a Constructivist, I know how it has come about. In this case, the same applies: the unusual format naturally inspires you to make something of it. That’s why I decided simply to measure the thing out … the scarf is 180 centimetres wide, so I drew out 180 centimetres worth of space.”
Printed on a silk and cotton blend of fabric, the options include a 30cm X 30cm handkerchief or a 160cm X 40 cm scarf. The color combinations are inspired from real-world prints of graph paper including cyan and magenta on a white background, black and white on a red background, yellow and orange on an emerald green background and magenta and white on a blue background.
While the price of one of the accessories – which start at $145 – will likely deter one from actually using the print as a drawing surface during an eight-course dinner, wearing the print is nearly as close as you can get to wearing a design-geek badge of honor.
