Jan Middendorp (1956–2023)
We are very saddened to hear that Jan Middendorp, graphic designer and writer, recently passed away. He fought against his illness for a long time and did not let it defeat him.
In his book Dutch Type, he writes in the preface: “This book was born out of curiosity. Letterforms have fascinated me since childhood, but I did not get involved with them professionally until the late 80s, when I began working as a self-taught graphic designer. I gradually realized that I had a natural preference for text faces by Dutch designers (...) Having worked as a performing arts critic in a previous life, I turned back to writing and started interviewing the people whose typefaces I was so intrigued by.”
And so, we also conducted an interview with Jan for Slanted Magazine #6—Signs, Symbols, Ornaments in 2008, which became so interesting and comprehensive that we extended it to the next magazine, Slanted #7—Geometrics.Porn. (Thanks to HD Schellnack). Jan’s work and his thoughts on it were of great interest to us and our readers.
We haven’t seen each other often in recent years, but we fondly remember many beautiful moments at Typo Berlin or other events related to his passion for typography. Rest in peace, Jan!
Portrait: © Jean-Luc Lemaitre
