Typography tales, AVA x Lưu Chữ
Lưu Chữ is a typography collective based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It is the world’s only design studio focused on preserving Vietnamese typography, which is in increasing danger of disappearing as the country rapidly modernises.
As part of the first round of BC funding, together with Lưu Chữ, we hosted an in-person workshop/showcase in April 2023 for artists, designers, archivist and community heritage workers in Saigon in the collective’s new library. Being together with Lưu Chữ in one, intimate space enabled rich cultural exchange and informal discussion with local artists led by our long-standing themes of exploration: how can we create and care for our own archives to capture our shared heritage? What kinds of futures can we imagine for our archive as our own histories bend and shift? In June, Lưu Chữ and AVA co-hosted another workshop – this time online – to introduce their practice of archiving, share parts of their tremendous collection as well as the stories and lessons learned along the way.
On September 23 2023, Lê Quốc Huy and Cao Xuân Đức, as representatives of the six members of Lưu Chữ, flew to London for the first time to host a showcase event with the AVA at Hackney Archives. They lifted the lid on their archiving methods, which have been refined over several years and advanced using bespoke digital tools, such as open source software that can document Vietnamese multilingual typography. We had a packed room of attendees, who we also invited to handle the materials and documents within the AVA. Part of the day involved going out onto the streets of Hackney and putting this methodology of collective mapping into practice – taking notes on how street signs sit within our cultural memory and imagination. We then documented participants’ findings as part of our goal to activate the An Việt Archives.
This project was the first opportunity for Lưu Chữ to work with partners in the UK in exploring the importance of vernacular design for ESEA and migrant communities tracing linkages and connections across the diaspora.
To learn more about Lưu Chữ, you can read their English introduction to Lưu Chữ here, as well as this profile of Lưu Chữ in Matca for more information.
Photo Credit: Linh Than