Max and Jimbo.
From 2 to 4 October, the Zagreb City Museum will host Scripta Zagreb, an international festival dedicated to lettering and calligraphy, bringing artists and educators from the international lettering scene to Zagreb.
Wanting to find out more, we spoke to festival organisers Max Jurič (@Lettering Daily) and Jimbo Bernaus (@ShoutBAM!), who joined forces to answer our questions. Read on to discover what the festival has in store, including more about the acclaimed artists coming to Zagreb, the major international exhibition and the workshops you can sign up for.
This year, Scripta Zagreb will bring together an international community of calligraphers and lettering artists in Zagreb. What inspired you to organize the event?
We are currently living through something of a renaissance when it comes to calligraphy and lettering. With the rise of digital media and its presence in our daily lives, more and more people are seeking out the craft of working with letters — something that has essentially been part of human civilization from the very beginning. What makes this renaissance interesting, though, is that much of it is happening digitally, through social media. People learn, practice and connect through screens.
Scripta Zagreb came from the idea of bringing those people together face to face. We wanted to create a space where people could experience the energy and inspiration of a real-life community — not just as an experience, but as motivation to keep learning and keep the craft alive for years to come.
Most people tend to associate calligraphy with a more traditional form of artistic expression, while lettering today encompasses a wide range of techniques, media and approaches. How would you briefly introduce the contemporary world of calligraphy and lettering to someone encountering the field for the first time?
The first thing to understand is that calligraphy and lettering are much broader than the traditional image most people have in their heads. Calligraphy is the art of writing letters, while lettering is essentially the art of drawing them. Today, both fields encompass everything from traditional pen-and-ink techniques and historical scripts to brush lettering, sign painting, blackletter, digital illustration, type design and experimental work.
That's one of the things we want Scripta to communicate. There isn't one correct way to work with letters. There is an enormous world of techniques, styles and approaches, and we're bringing many of those together through the exhibition, live performances and workshops.
At the heart of the festival is an international exhibition of 50 original works created especially for Scripta, all centred around the theme of “Change”. Why did you choose change as the theme?
AI, whether we like it or not, has become a central part of our daily lives. Naturally, there is a lot of fear and anxiety around the possibility of artists and designers being replaced by machines. A machine can generate an incredibly complex image in a matter of seconds. But there is something fundamentally different about the experience of making something yourself — the time, the mistakes, the physical process and the connection you develop with the work.
That's where the idea of Change came from. The tools we use will continue to change. Technology will change. The way we create and consume art will change. But the human experience of making something with your own hands remains.
We wanted to see how artists from different backgrounds would interpret that idea in their own way.
The exhibition theme also raises questions about the relationship between human creativity and the growing presence of digital tools and artificial intelligence. Can you tell us what kinds of interpretations we can expect?
That's something we're curious about as well. Most of the artists come from different parts of the world, so we don't really know what to expect until the artworks arrive in Zagreb.
What we can expect is a broad range of styles, techniques and interpretations. We deliberately selected artists who live and breathe this intricate art form, and I'm really excited to see how each of them approaches the theme of Change. The best way to find out is to come to the Zagreb City Museum on Friday, October 2nd and see it for yourself.
Jimbo's work.
Artists and educators with a range of different styles and approaches are coming to Zagreb to lead several workshops. Could you briefly introduce the programme and tell us what workshop participants can expect?
We're incredibly proud of the lineup we've managed to bring to Zagreb. These are some of the strongest artists and educators working in calligraphy and lettering today, and it's a personal honour to have many of them here — and to call some of them friends.
We have Paul Antonio, who has more than 40 years of professional experience in calligraphy and has worked as an official scribe for the Crown Office in the UK. Ian Barnard is one of the most recognisable names in contemporary lettering and type design, with collaborations and work involving Adobe, Procreate and Affinity, as well as years of teaching.
Snooze One represents a younger generation of contemporary lettering artists and has built an impressive following and body of work in a relatively short time. Viktor Kams has been working with lettering and calligraphy for around three decades and has collaborated with major fashion brands including Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Armani. Ellie Heywood, aka Elettr, specialises in blackletter calligraphy and sign painting and has been a big part of our projects and meetups over the years.
(Max adds): And finally, Jimbo Bernaus, my friend and partner in putting this whole festival together, is one of the most talented lettering artists and designers I've ever worked with. He's spent the last decade not only producing incredible work across lettering, design and illustration, but also building his career around teaching.
So there's a really wide range of approaches represented — from traditional calligraphy and blackletter to brush lettering, composition and digital lettering in Procreate. The idea is that whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced artist, there's something here for you.
Live painting is also part of the programme – the artists will create a mural together, while the audience will be able to follow the entire process as it unfolds. What does this kind of interaction offer the artists, and what does it offer the audience?
The live painting is one of the central parts of Scripta Zagreb, alongside the exhibition and workshops. We've built the painting surfaces out of wooden panels specifically for the event.
From 18:30 until 23:00, the artists will be painting in front of a live audience while our DJs keep the atmosphere going. The process is entirely up to the artists. Some will come with a prepared concept, while others will freestyle and respond to what's happening around them.
What's exciting to me is that it removes the barrier between the artist and the audience. People can walk up, ask questions about the ideas, the process, the tools or the materials, and simply talk to the artists.
That's something you don't really get from looking at finished work online. You get to see the decisions, mistakes and changes happening in real time. And that's probably one of the best ways to learn something new.
One of Scripta’s aims is to connect the international lettering scene with Zagreb. How would you like to see Scripta develop in the future?
We definitely want to keep going. We're already thinking about next year and about what we can improve and expand. The bigger goal is to establish Scripta as a place where the international lettering and calligraphy community knows it can come together — and to connect that international community with Zagreb.
I'd also love to expand the programme beyond a single weekend and create more opportunities for people to meet, learn and collaborate throughout the year. We've even been discussing an online component during the winter months, when meeting in person can be a little more challenging.
But for now, we're focused on making this first Scripta Zagreb something people will want to come back to.
Find out more about the workshops and how to sign up on the festival’s Instagram page.
