A Life Among Letters unearths an unseen chapter of Czech typography

New York-based Czech graphic designer and visual artist Anežka Minařiková first came across the seminal Czech designer and typographer Clara Istlerová “in a group photo of the Typo& collective from the 70s”, she says, “Typo& was an informal but influential circle of Czech graphic designers who, during the restrictive years of normalisation, the period of Soviet-imposed censorship and political conformity after 1968, created a platform for exhibitions, critiques, and the circulation of international design journals.” A unique space for critical dialogue and innovation in type design at a time when tight reins were on creativity, Clara Istlerová appeared to be the only woman amongst this pioneering collective of almost entirely men. With so little information available on her online and a known preference not to seek publicity, Anežka grew ever curious about the designer. “I kept wondering: Why don’t we know more about her?” she shares.

This interest led the designer to embark on a much larger research project that would take the form of a bachelor’s thesis on Clara and her work whilst studying at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The first research stage of which was to reach out to the seminal graphic designer to meet with her directly. “Everyone said she would not reply, since she was known for saying no,” Anežka says. “To my surprise she answered my email requesting to meet: “After 2pm, I’m not a morning person.”

Hopping on the tram to Pentřiny to the designer’s home with a bouquet under one arm and her printed questions in another, Anežka was apprehensive, but was met with a warm welcome from Clara. “That was the beginning of many afternoons at her dining table”, she shares, “We talked about books, typography, love, history, and her beloved dachshunds. Over time we became friends, and those conversations slowly became the backbone of A Life Among Letters.”

What began as a student project and eventually became the flesh of a printed book, A Life Among Letters, published by Inventory Press, is an extended interview between Clara Anežka in which she explores the very personal influences that fed into Clara’s life’s work – a largely unrecognised revolutionary oeuvre that spanned some of the greatest political and societal upheavals of Czech history, all whilst leaving an unmistakable mark on an era of book design and 20th-century typography. “If you grew up in Czechoslovakia, you have probably held one of her designs without knowing her name”, Anežka tells us. “She worked across genres, children’s books, poetry, architecture, and exhibition catalogues, but always with the same conviction: a love of letters.”

Presenting all of these works together for the first time in this English language edition, the book takes readers almost through a hidden book shelf of her designs. “Since Clara never archived her own work, I had to become the archivist, tracking down her books in libraries, antiquarian shops, and private collections”, Anežka says, “In this way, the book became a meeting place: Clara’s voice in dialogue with collaborators, scholars, and friends.”

Interspersed between these covers are intimate archival photographs and ephemera from the designers personal life, something that is often left out of a traditional monograph but that Anežka felt was an important tool to convey “the multitasking rhythm of women’s creativity”. In these moments Clara speaks to not only to her creative process, but also to “her lovers, family, motherhood, caregiving and daily life” – all the things that intersected with the work and existed in between it.

The publication takes the form of a small and intimate copy, almost like a pocket novel. Anežka wanted the design of the book to feel “modest and approachable”, she says, its cover celebrating her playful, physical and intuitive approach to typography through a title of mixed and matched letterforms from her book covers, sketches and experiments. “Designing a book about another designer is always tricky, especially when that designer is Clara”, she says. The independent designer and creative at Google has always gravitated towards storytelling in her own work, “whether through typography, illustration, writing or technology”, Anežka says, and “books have become a natural extension of that impulse: not just for the texts they hold, but as spaces where structure, rhythm and meaning come to life.”

In Life Among Letters, a new meaning to Clara’s practice has come to life – no longer overshadowed by her male peers, we importantly see that her pioneering work was not only everywhere but also that her revolutionary creativity “unfolded in the in-between moments of daily life: pushing a stroller, walking her dachshunds, waiting in line, preparing a meal”, Anežka ends. “In an era when design history often prizes ego and style, her life reminds us of intimacy, resilience, empathy and care. I hope readers see not only a chapter of Czech typography, but also a story of how one might live among letters and among people.”