The Buchstabenmuseum looks in detail at an extremely interesting subject matter: the collection, which also contains some very large letters and signage, focuses on and documents a variety of phenomena and developments in a range of historic and contemporary cultural and artistic fields – for example in the areas of architecture and urban landscaping, which are shaped by illuminated letterforms, particularly at night.

The move to a new location offered the Buchstabenmuseum the chance to display its exhibits in a new way and explore the informative elements of the exhibition in greater detail. For the exploding ‘R’ installation, I set out to research the construction processes behind the individual pieces, which were all so wonderfully displayed. I then created a display board to illustrate the individual steps.

I have long been exploring the topics of architecture and lettering through my studies. I think the idea behind the museum is great – what appeals to me the most are the stories behind the objects. During our first move the museum became a kind of baby for me, and I ended up basing much of the work for my diploma around it.

I have a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature. Though I still love my subject I wanted to get involved in a project that dealt with a range of different disciplines, and the Buchstabenmuseum embodied all the things I’m passionate about: typography and handwriting, urban history, collective memory, industrial and product design, abstract art and sculpture.

It was thanks to my two parrots that I discovered a lovely, old-school pet shop at Frankfurter Tor, which could be seen from miles away because of its illuminated “Zierfische” shop sign. A few years later, having kept up-to-date with news in the typo-world whilst working for United Designers, I discovered this illuminated sign was once again making the headlines: The shop would be closing and the wonderful lettering was in grave danger of landing on the scrap heap.

Despite having international status, Berlin is still a small city, and so it was that I discovered the Buchstabenmuseum through word of mouth before I actually met those involved in the museum at a Typodarium event. Everyone there is open to new ideas, and that makes getting involved in their projects a lot of fun.