There is something tragic in the exclusion of today’s children not learning penmanship in school. How they will never have to provide a signature on their marriage license or first home they purchase. That the flourish of pen to paper will be as quaint as the quills and ink wells used for signing historic documents. This is partly due to fraud control, another byproduct of the digital age that has given us Chip-and-Pin, signature cards that sound more like a program a preschooler would watch. In respect to the model our new world follows, many of our more cultivated oeuvres will face redundancy. The human connection lost to efficiency but craftsmanship is a standard to be esteemed. Calligraphy is a fitting tribute of the written word that upholds beauty in a classic form.
Children practicing their penmanship with quills and handmade walnut ink wells.
An invitation written in calligraphy could have followed the same demise as listening to the Sambuca at an event until tastemakers mark it as a craft worthy of our attention. Before her days as a royal, Meghan Markle earned extra money as a calligrapher. Considering all things she touches, no less writes, assures an instant surge on the trend barometer calligraphy is back in vogue. Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls is another celebrity calligrapher—a highly esteemed artist and designer with works featured in Martha Stewart Weddings and Design *Sponge. Her second book, The Gift of Calligraphy: A Modern Approach to Hand Lettering, is testament to the craft’s awareness reboot. This stunning book is a work itself with a basic introduction to the technique and 25 projects.
Imasa-Stukuls secures calligraphy as an art form, showing that talent and the human connection shrouds the appeal of a computerized font by comparison.
Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls represents calligraphy for the modern day in The Gift of Calligraphy.
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