How Calligraphy Became My Creative Haven

When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a NASA astronaut. As you can imagine, for a wee girl from Scotland, this dream was quite far out of reach. The sciences weren't for me, so I graduated high school with a confirmed offer for a computing course.

Over three years I learned how to fix computers, write code and create websites. Despite this very tech-heavy start to my adult life, it also led me to discover a profound love for the analogue world. Today I want to share why I started learning calligraphy and how it transformed my creative process.

One of the most surprising things to come from my time studying information technology was the realisation that my true passion didn’t lie in computers. I made websites, but the exciting part for me was designing those websites. I’ll be the first to admit that my early attempts at design weren’t exactly masterpieces. And I won’t comment on how well they worked. However, it taught me the fundamentals of hierarchy and gave me a solid grasp of working with type. That set the stage for my transition into the world of graphic design.

Years later returned to college, this time to start a graphic design course. I had very little in the way of a portfolio at this stage, this would be the first time I attended an art class since my early high school years. Meaning, I had to start at the very beginning. During this time, a trip to London proved to be a turning point in my art career. As a design course, we naturally looked at the work of other designers. But during a visit to the Tate Modern, I was able to see a Piet Mondrian painting up close.

Unlike the perfect reproductions I was used to, this particular Mondrian painting was different. The surface was cracked, and imperfect, the paint had changed colour over time; it looked old. I had become so used to looking at retouched versions online it never occurred to me that this painting would look its age.

In our technology-driven world, it is very easy to jump straight onto a computer without doing any analogue-based work at all. Indeed, this is how many design studios typically function. But I loved working on projects which allowed me to combine traditional and digital. It allows me the opportunity to think about art as a physical object, something which exists in the world. Traditional art gives a design something which can’t be recreated on a computer and this was what drew me to calligraphy.

I went on to university to get my honours degree in Graphic Design. I learned how to work with typography and the rules for designing a page of text. I was implementing these design principles with the help of a computer. But these rules were first set out by scribes hundreds of years ago; copying manuscripts by candlelight. It gave me a new outlook on calligraphy. It wasn’t all that different from what I did on the computer.

I’m sure you can relate when I say 2020 was a year of anxiety. I had my last in-person lecture on the 13th of March and never went back. Lockdown turned out to be a transformative time. I loved it and I hated it. My freelance work dried up, but it also allowed me to learn from artists all over the world. I spent my last year at university working from home, taking lectures and crits over Zoom.

Two years later and I still run Nethy Studio from that same desk. Going freelance straight out of university might seem like a huge leap. But what I do on paper isn’t too dissimilar from what other designers do on the computer. Though our busy world demands faster ways of working. There are still times when the hand-written word is preferable. I love the slower way of working, the craft of it, and the connection which can never truly be replicated by a font on the computer.