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Giliane Cachin (ed.), François Rappo

Bobst Graphic (E)

1972–1981


Book design: Giliane Cachin

English edition
176 pages, ca. 160 images
16 × 24 cm, softcover

Euro (D) 29.– / Euro (A) 29.80

available

ISBN 978-3-03863-040-1

CHF   29.00



The second volume of the series "Visual Archives" is dedicated to the largely unknown history of Bobst Graphic`s photo set pioneers.


In the early 1970s, the Swiss packaging company Bobst S.A. began to wonder whether it would be ready for the future with only one product type. The Lausanne-based company, already far advanced in terms of packaging manufacturing technology, decided to launch phototypesetting machines.

The company sought to combine this new technology with the high-tech capabilities of computing to revolutionize typography quality. The result has been a whole series of novel phototypesetting machines for which Bobst Graphic, a trademark of Bobst S.A., has secured the patents of Hugonnet and Moyroud – the French inventors of photomontage.

Thanks to the participation of some of the best font designers in the country, e.g. Team 77, different font families were developed for the new technique. Five years after its inception, however, Bobst Graphic was in financial difficulties and was forced to divest all its operations and personnel to the US company Autologic. Within two years all the business was fully relocated to the United States.
The history of Bobst Graphic – a pioneering feat in the development of the phototypesetting at the time – has never been included in the rich history of Swiss graphic and font design.

The author Giliane Cachin decided to document and share this fascinating story from the inside based on personal interviews. Bruno De Kalbermatten, Jean-Daniel Nicoud, Robert Flach, Roland Jan and Christian Mengelt all give their side of the story.


About the Editor

Giliane Cachin Giliane Cachin graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from Lausanne University of Art and Design (ECAL) in 2014. After graduation, she became a teaching assistant at ECAL and came in contact with the Zurich graphic design studio NORM, for which she worked for more than a year. Subsequently she moved to Berlin where she worked for the Type Foundry Lineto and the design studio of Cornel Windlin.
In 2015, Giliane Cachin won the Swiss Design Award, which enabled her to spend six months in New York. Since her return to Switzerland in 2017, she has been a research assistant at ECAL while also continuing her work both for Lineto and Cornel Windlin and in her own studio.

François Rappo (*1955) is a graphic designer, trained at ECBA Ecole cantonale des beaux-arts, Lausanne, Switzerland. François Rappo started type design in 1998, collaborating with ‘Optimo type foundry’ since then: Didot Elder, Theinhardt Grotesk, Genath, Antique, Plain Grotesque, Clarendon Graphic, Practice, Apax, Jannon.
His portfolio includes projects for The New York Times Magazine, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art London, Apple, Basel Art Fair and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
From 2001 till 2007 François Rappo was head of the jury of The Most Beautiful Swiss Books competition.
François is teaching type and graphic design at ECAL Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne. In parallel to his design projects, François has published several writings on typography and type design. François Rappo received the Jan Tschichold award in 2013.

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