Typographer Masahiko Kozuka once remarked that “To people in Japan, characters are water and rice.“ Inspired by these words, Osamu Torinoumi has created more than 100 typefaces to date. This exhibition, “Osamu Torinoumi Making Type: Like Water, Live Air,“ begins with the view of Mount Chokai from the town of Yuza in Yamagata Prefecture, where he began his life working with letters, and examines how typefaces, which are an inseparable part our daily lives, are created, and how they become the infrastructure we see in the world around us. Through sketches born out of the design process, traces of trial and error, drafts, finished type, and examples of use in the real world, the exhibition attempts to showcase Torinoumi’s work to date.
In addition to his work as a type designer involved in the creation of typefaces, Torinoumi, has also taught and instructed about type design at universities and private schools. In this exhibition, three of his students, Yuta Okamura, Midori Hirota, and Ryu Mieno, will be in charge of art direction, creating a space where visitors can understand typeface design in a more sensory and physical manner.
We hope that by drowning in “the sea of characters” arranged throughout the gallery, visitors will have an opportunity to reconsider Japan’s distinctive written script, something which we tend to overlook in our daily lives. For us, these characters are indeed akin to “water“ and “air.“