Objects of Communication: 26 Carved Letters

The setting out and carving of formal inscriptions is a disciplined, exacting task. To draw our roman letters, though they may be deeply familiar, is a fiendishly difficult exercise, requiring quality of line, consistency, a keen eye for proportion and much practise. The letters must be well balanced, well spaced, always on their best behavior, controlled, a little suppressed even. Which got Philip Surey wondering; liberated from their linguistic duties, what might our letters look like? The response is Objects of Communication, a series of twenty six sandstone tablets carefully hand carved in low relief. The starting point being the physical movement of writing, each has begun its own journey of self expression. A pleasant distraction by the guy who carved the alphabet that sits above our desk.