Global Rhythm: Design and Identity

Solid beats, turning into light and airy articulations – grazioso followed by grave, swinging at first, heavy at last. It is not only in music that the change of events, moods and colors over the course of time denotes rhythm. It is the connection between past and present. It becomes in itself a trail originating in times gone by and reaching out into the future. In this interplay, rhythm makes memories and experience possible and becomes an instrument. An instrument helping us to grasp the world around us, to understand and describe it. Similarly, script carries the notion of yesterday, bringing it into today and tomorrow; script is cultural technique and cultural repository. The characters of written script are totally linked to the cultural memory of any society and form an integral part of its DNA. And while Latin scripts still dominate the global day-to-day life, the future lies in the diversity of local worlds of script: a polyphony of signs leading us back to our roots again and again. The GRANSHAN project explores, melts, translates, connects … worlds of script, ways of communication, sign languages. With their focus on Non Latin Typefaces, the GRANSHAN competition and conference are unique worldwide. Boris Kochan, designer, entrepreneur and co-initiator of GRANSHAN, on the entire world of script in all its multicultural diversity.