This is the first in a series of letter love Love Letters where we’re showing a piece of letter-related ephemera we love.
I love Buttermann (butter man), the logo/mascot of the Dresden Brüder Butter type foundry (later Schriftguss A.-G.) from the 1920s. It is so joyful and affable like no other logo today, at least not in any type related business. Buttermann cheers to you from specimen books, merchandise coins, or hurries through poster type with a spoon of lead in his hand.
The 1925 Schriftguss A.-G. specimen book. Photo by Lars Schwarz
Buttermann as chromatic metal type! From: Fundicion tipografica, Schriftguss A.-G. vorm. Brüder Butter Dresden, ca. 1925 (Spanish edition). Photo by Romesh Naik
Promotional coins from 1921, likely made for a trade fair. Photo by Maurice Göldner
Maurice even made Buttermann into a 3D-superhero
How can you not want to purchase Brüder Butter products seeing him!? When Shiva Nallaperumal asked on Twitter, what the best type foundry identity is in our view, I didn’t have to think for a second.
Buttermann also gained recognition among Slack users as a Custom Slack Emoji, so much so that some fans started to reenact it.
And since the type products of Schriftguss and their history are just as affable as their mascot, I’ve written some more about it over in the Research section.
What are your beloved letter related items of note? Post on Instagram or tweet at us @alphabettes_org with the hashtag #letterlove.
HE MAKES ME SO HAPPY! #theOGemoji
The Butterman was conceived by Karl Sigrist (1885–1986), a graphic artist from Stuttgart. Or at least Sigrist designed versions of the Butterman, alongside many other vignettes, ornaments, border elements and pointing hands for the Brüder Butter foundry.
Mike Ashworth posted some pics showing Sigrist-Schmuck in the February 1920 issue of Das Plakat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/albums/72177720319112816
See also the pdf compiled by the Freunde des Klingspor Museums: http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/Sigrist/KSigrist.pdf
The Butterman was conceived by Karl Sigrist (1885-1986), a graphic artist from Stuttgart. Or at least Sigrist designed versions of the Butterman, alongside many other vignettes, ornaments, border elements and pointing hands for the Brüder Butter foundry.
Mike Ashworth posted some pics showing Sigrist-Schmuck in the February 1920 issue of Das Plakat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/albums/72177720319112816
See also the pdf compiled by the Freunde des Klingspor Museums: http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/Sigrist/KSigrist.pdf