Talk:Akke Kumlien

Latest comment: 14 years ago by Se mj in topic This page is a mess



Dates edit

Rather hard to believe that this person died before being born, no? In light of the dates being virtually the only fact presented (and no reference), it appears that this "article" may be a less-than-stub, and perhaps it should be deleted as a result, unless it is significantly expanded, with references.

This page is a mess edit

I started this page because Akke Kumlien is the most influential calligrapher and typographic designer Sweden has ever had since we started using roman letter forms. I didn't write a lot because my English writing sucks and take me ages. I thought somebody would be able to make a short and to the point article about him in English. I was wrong. I was really, really wrong.

I have no idea what the original title of "Kunstneren og bokkunsten" is, but Kumlien wrote his books in Swedish and not Danish. You can get a list of those of his books available through the public library system in Sweden through a serarch on the site http://www.bibliotek.se/ (sorry, no linking to search results). It is just a fraction of the books he has written, though.

Some facts about Kumlien:

  • He has made several of the Noble Prize diplomas (they are hand made pieces of art on pergament), http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/diplomas/chronological.html
  • He has made at least two typefaces still in use
  • He has designed a lot of company logotypes still in use
  • He has designed and illustrated thousands of books, by himself or in collaboration, all of them of extraordinary typographic quality. (Employed by P.A.Norstedt & Söner,at that time the second largest book publisher in Sweden, 1916-1949)
  • His typographic work was both groundbreaking and unobtrusive
  • He was the nestor of Karl-Erik Forsberg of Berling antikva fame (redesigns is used by Microsoft in several applications). Unlike Berling antikva, Kumliens typefaces actually make Swedish look good. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Se mj (talkcontribs) 10:54, 5 February 2010 (UTC)Reply