David Kindersley

The British Library entrance gate and shadow

David Guy Barnabas KindersleyMBE(11 June 1915 – 2 February 1995) was a British stoneletter-carverandtypefacedesigner, and the founder of the Kindersley Workshop (later the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop). His carved plaques and inscriptions in stone and slate can be seen on many churches and public buildings in the United Kingdom. Kindersley was a designer of the Octavian font forMonotype Imagingin 1961, and he and his third wifeLida Lopes Cardozodesigned the main gates for theBritish Library.

Early life

Bentalls facade in Kingston

Kindersley was born atCodicotenearHitchin,the son of MajorGuy Molesworth Kindersley(a stockbroker andMP) and the grandson on his mother's side of theArts and CraftspotterSir Edmund Elton.He was educated atSt Cyprian's School,Eastbourne,where "he had a wonderful time", becoming head boy,and the sharpness of his eye was shown by his outstanding skill at shooting.

He claimed that "aiming at the centre has always been an inherent quality with him".His elder brother, Hallam, died atWestminster Schoolwhilst Kindersley was still at St Cyprian's. Kindersley went on toMarlborough College,but left after three years because ofrheumatoid arthritis.

After recovery, Kindersley was sent to Paris to learn French and study sculpture at the Academie St Julian and then with the Iduni brothers in London. He read the books ofEric Gill,and decided to become a stone-cutter.He became an apprentice to Gill in his workshop at PigottsHigh Wycombein December 1934, with the support of his father who, liking to do things the proper way, insisted on paying an apprenticeship indemnity.He worked on important commissions, including Bentall's store inKingston upon Thames,St John's College, Oxfordand Dorset House.

Independent activity

Kindersley left Gill's workshop in 1936 and set up his own workshop on theRiver Arun,where he still worked on commission for Gill. He married his first wife, Christina Sharpe, at the beginning ofWorld War IIand ranThe Smith's Arms,a tiny pub (reputed to be the smallest in England) with her inGodmanstone,Dorset.

As aconscientious objectorhe refused to be put in a position where he would have to kill, although he applied (and was rejected) for theHome Guard.On the death of Eric Gill in 1940, Kindersley spent time sorting out the affairs of Gill's workshop at Pigotts.

Cambridge workshops

In 1945, Kindersley moved toCambridgeshireand set up his first fully-fledged letter-cutting workshop at Dales Barn in the village ofBarton.

During this time, Kindersley developed his work and methods as he broke away from Gill, in his decorative embellishments of cutting, in his growing predilection for lettering on slate and the combination of lettering with heraldry. Nevertheless, in the organisation of the workshop there was still a sense of dynastic inheritance.

Relief maps at Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley, 1960

At this time he also started teaching calligraphy at Cambridge Art School, having initially gone to enrol for the course. He had a major commission carving relief maps for theAmerican War Cemeteryand also became a consultant for film titles through his cousinSir Arthur Eltonwho was in charge of film making atShell Oil.

Letter cutters from David Kindersley's workshop working on the frieze of theWellcomeBuilding, Euston Road, London in 1956

Kindersley was preoccupied in the 1950s and 1960s by the survival of the workshop culture in a post-war climate of industrial expansion. He was a leading figure in the Designer Craftsman Society and theCrafts Councilof Great Britain.He became Chairman of the Crafts Council for a while, but stepped down because of concerns about underfunding.

Kindersley invented a system for the accurate spacing of letters, which has not seen wide adoption. Kindersley's work in this area formed the basis of an artist's project by his former assistant the calligrapher Owen Williams calledTesting David.In 1952 he submitted a design,MoT Serif,to the BritishMinistry of Transport,which required new lettering to use on United Kingdom road signs. Although theRoad Research Laboratoryfound Kindersley's design slightly more legible, the all-capitals design with serifs was passed over in favour of the lowercasesans-seriffontTransport,designed byJock KinneirandMargaret Calvert,for aesthetic reasons.

Many of the street signs in the UK including streets inCambridge,use Kindersley fonts.Among his apprentices of this period was his sonRichard Kindersley,who has continued the lettering tradition from his own workshop in London since 1970.

In 2005 the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop created the digital typefaceKindersley Street(akaKindersley Grand Arcade) for theGrand Arcadein Cambridge. This is an official revival ofMoT Serifwith a newly designed lower-case.

Block, Slate, David Kindersley ca. 1969

In 1967 Kindersley moved the workshop from Barton to the 14th-centuryChesterton Towerin Cambridge and then, ten years later, to the converted infants' school in Victoria Road where his widow Lida continues to run the workshop and take on apprentices.

Kindersley was not formally religious, but had a strongly contemplative side. He had an essentially spiritual view of the workshop and his ideas of wholeness as the integration of home and work was a development of Gill's "cell of good living in the chaos of our world". Kindersley was deeply influenced by the writings of the Russian philosopherP. D. Ouspenskyand for a time a member of the Walker Group, an Ouspenskyist self-help discussion group in London.His bookGraphic Sayingsalso shows plates bearing sayings of theSufimysticsfrom the works of the writerIdries Shah.

In January 2000 a memorial plaque designed by Kindersley's widow Lida was unveiled atAddenbrooke's Hospital,joining more than 20 other plaques and inscriptions created by the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. The first plaque had commemorated the opening of the new hospital in 1962.

Personal life

Kindersley's children by his first marriage includePeter Kindersley,co-founder ofDorling Kindersleypublishers.

Kindersley's children with his last wife,Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley,includeHallam Jacob Cardozo Kindersley.

Publications

• David Kindersley (1971).Graphic Sayings.Cambridge: Kindersley & Skelton. No ISBN.
• David Kindersley (1976).Optical letter spacing for new printing systemsLund Humphries, 2nd Edition.
• David Kindersley and Lida Lopes Cardozo (1981).Letters Slate Cut: workshop practice and the making of letters.London: Lund Humphries.ISBN0-85331-429-2.

See also

• Eric Gill
• Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley

Further reading

• Lottie Hoare, "Kindersley, David Guy Barnabas (1915–1995)",Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,2004
• Montague Shaw,David Kindersley: His work and workshop,Cardozo Kindersley Editions, 1989
• Fiona MacCarthy,ABC: David Kindersley.Cambridge: Kettle's Yard Gallery (2000).
• G. W. O. Addleshaw, "Architects, Sculptors, Painters, Craftsmen 1660–1960 Whose Work is to be Seen in York Minster",Architectural History,Vol. 10 (1967).

External links

• Cardozo Kindersley Workshop official website
• Richard Kindersley Studio official website
• BBC Feature, 2006