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Special Report - Art

APFEL - Ancient & Modern

New art space Ancient & Modern on Whitecross Street in East London is the initiative of curators Bruce Haines and Rob Tufnell. It opened its doors in October 2006 with an identity designed by APFEL and its inaugural exhibition, Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires.

The gallery's ethos pivots around research-based curatorship and directors Haines and Tufnell are interested in closely connecting the art shown in the gallery with the local environment and its history. Thus, these were also the guiding principles for Emma Thomas and Kirsty Carter of APFEL when they set about devising Ancient & Modern's visual identity.

The gallery sits at a spot where many historical ley lines cross. Whitecross Street is the site one of London's oldest street markets, which was established in medieval times and flourished in the seventeenth century. Just to the east of Whitecross Street is Bunhill Fields (originally Bone Hill Fields), where the remains of William Blake, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe are interred. Chiswell Street, which intersects with the south end of Whitecross Street, was the site of William Caslon's new type foundry opened in 1737. Caslon, then, was the natural choice of font for Ancient & Modern's logotype. In a further neat historical reference to the gallery's name, Caslon was also one of the first fonts used by the Church for its publication of hymn and prayer books, including Hymns Ancient & Modern.

APFEL has successfully created an identity that references history but that also has subtly modern overtones. "We wanted to create something that feels both familiar and original," says Thomas of the identity. "To balance the slightly Gothic nature of Caslon, we have also used a more contemporary monospace font called Prestige Elite." The latter font chimes well with Caslon, echoing some of the older font's features, particularly in the shape of its serifs. All the gallery's correspondence material is printed on a textured paper that is embossed with a roller after being printed, its fine, cross-hatch embossing mimicking the paving of the market street. For Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires, APFEL designed an invitation that visually referenced the contrasts of the title, with opulent gold foil-blocked type over a sepia-toned photograph of bomb wreckage on Whitecross Street during the Second World War. The designers plan to implement the use of reclaimed period photography throughout the course of Ancient & Modern's exhibition programme, creating a regular visual device that echoes the historically aware, research-based curatorial approach of the gallery.

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