My research interest lies in the history of design, its writing, and its intertwinement with economy, technology, and professional and cultural practices. With a sound knowledge of the history of typography, I am keen on exploring inter- and transdisciplinary questions and enjoy engaging with people across the humanities and beyond.

For my dissertation at the University of Bern, I analyze historical and historiographical entanglements between Swiss typography and the Moroccan script reform from the 1950s to the present. I particularly focus on the role of histories in the negotiation of expertise in design, academia, business, and politics, as well as the consequent silencing of existing critique.

As part of the SNSF/Sinergia project Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited (SGDTR), I have extensively written on the role of practitioner-authored books in the dissemination of Swiss graphic design, on modernist design histories, on the portrayals of various scripts, and on ties between Swiss school handwriting and graphic design in the 1920s and 1930s.

Further, I conduct research on typographic styles and trade in type in the 16th century, as well as 20th century historiography on that matter. A respective article has been released in the Journal of the Printing Historical Society in spring 2023 and another one should follow in 2025.

Portrait
Portrait by Lucas Ziegler