Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the Life of Letters, a podcast exploring the history and future of calligraphy, handwriting, type design, and all things lettering. Join me, Laura Edrilyn, a London based calligrapher, as I connect with artists, historians, stationery experts, and more from around the world to uncover the stories behind the letters and the journeys of those who bring them to life.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Hi, this is Heidi, producer of the Life of Letters podcast. So series two is almost upon us, but before we talk about that, I just wanted to take a minute to say a massive thank you to all of you listeners from season one. We've had over 1, 300 listeners from across Twitter, 25 countries and counting, and we are so blown away. Thank you so much for me.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: So blown away. It's. It's so exciting and I'm just so thrilled that the first series has landed and been received so well. Some fantastic guests and all those guests who sort of believed in us when we hadn't got any episodes up before, so they totally jumped on, on the boat and gone. Yeah, let's have a chat. So everyone believing in us enough to join as a guest, but also those listening and adding us to their precious podcast lists. You know, they are precious. You really have to select which ones you're going to download and which ones you're listening to next. We've had quite a few people go, oh, I've never listened to podcasts before. Let's have a, let's have a listen. And starting with us. So really, really lovely.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So the feedback from season one's been incredible and so it's really exciting to move forward to season two. I'm super excited. I know you're super excited. Some of the guests have been incredible, haven't they?
[00:01:50] Speaker A: It's so great. And actually, you're right. The feedback from listeners, but also the feedback from guests saying, this is such a lovely thing to be part of and perfect. Because our theme for the next series is all around community. And that's exactly what we want to build with the podcast. But all of our guests actually talk about communities that they're part of and who have inspired them and who they're inspiring through, whether it's workshops and creating events where people can kind of come and learn from them directly, or it's just groups of people where they are sharing together peer to peer.
But which, Heidi, are you most excited about?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: I mean, and that's. It's a tough question because they're all brilliant. They're all brilliant. But I guess for me personally, I have a master's degree in English Literature and I'm a big Jane Austen fan. So listening to Sophie from Jane Austen's House talk about Jane Austen's life and her writing was just really inspiring for me. Sophie speaks so passionately about her subject matter. That was just such a joy to listen to. I really, really enjoyed that one. But I also really loved hearing from Leanne. So she found a wonderful community of women later on in her career when the Internet was a thing. So before that she was sitting in rural Australia going about being a signwriter, thinking she was the only woman signwriter in the world. And then obviously the advent of the Internet meant that she was able to find all these other women across the world who also thought they were on their own, but they've been able to build this incredible community of kind of signwriting women around the world, which I think was just so lovely to hear her talking about that. And then you know, even like quite up to today, quite recent, we spoke to Athena at Meticulous Inc. Who has built an incredible business and community in Bath where her shop is located. Really culminating in the On Paper festival that she runs, I think every other year in Bath. So, yeah, really, really interesting stuff from those ladies. Those are kind of the three that stuck out for me. How about you? What were your highlights?
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Definitely meeting and chatting to Jason Sande. I think I just loved hearing more about Mudlarking, the fascinating stories that he told us. Especially the dove type. Especially the dove type. Press letters. Hard to say.
Yeah, it's just, it's just such a great story and so interesting and relevant to the kind of world of, of lettering and type and, and the history of it as well. So that was great. And Robert from the Flourish Club, because I have a love hate relationship with flourishing. So it's great meeting people who are able, they're kind of enablers, they're able to teach you the art of something that is. Is such a challenge for so many people. So that, that was lovely, me included, by the way.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: It's a challenge for me too.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And.
And Kestrel, because she's just such a huge inspiration. I think she was, you know, one of the very first calligraphers that I stumbled across on, on Instagram. And so her and Marie actually being able to talk to them and discussing their, their stories and their journeys into calligraphy was great. And obviously Catherine, because her episode was just an absolute joy. Exploring medieval manuscripts and hearing all about the wealth of lettering history at the VA's National Art Library. So, yeah, really, really interesting things coming up this season.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: And I think one of the things that really struck me is we've got eight episodes this, this series and they're all so different, like, and it's just such a lovely community to be a part of and speaking to, but everyone has just come at it from really, really different paths, which is really interesting. So, yeah, there is, there is so much in this series. And as I said, We've got eight episodes this time. We'll be releasing them one a week starting next week, Tuesday the 13.
And that's to coincide with National Stationary Week.
There may also be a couple of extended podcasts released at the end of the series because some of these conversations were just so jam packed and we wanted to give you guys the full experience that we were able to have. So watch out for those as well.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just so exciting. You're right. With the, just the huge variety and people coming into this world of letters from so many different angles and who would have thought Mud larking and the Life of letters would work together? And then, you know, you got the VNA and you've got all these different pockets of people all around the world as well. So it's a real labor of love and such a wonderful community of people that we're, we're building as well. So thank you for being with us and we hope you enjoy series two. Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review or share it with a fellow lettering enthusiast. And for all the details to connect with us, check out the show notes. A huge thank you to my producer, Heidi Cullop for ensuring this podcast reached your ears. And finally, to all the guests featured in this series, go check them out.
