Dafi Kühne: Letterpress Posters Reinvented

Award-winning designer and printer Dafi Kühne is joining Chief Curator Angelina Lippert in conversation to present his work, share his approach to Swiss Typography, and give insight into his fascinating production process. Together they will ask: Do printed posters in times of digital displays in urban spaces still make sense? And why should posters be produced at great expense using the antiquated letterpress printing process, when digital printing devices can deliver high-quality reproductions at much lower cost? In the words of Dafi, “letterpress printing can only live on if the design is at the heart of the process and makes the connection to the present.”

This event is presented by Cooper Union’s Herb Lubalin Study Center and the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York. It will be held at the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium.

Dafi Kühne is a Swiss designer and letterpress printer. In his studio, he uses a wild mix of analog and digital tools to produce cultural posters. With this one main rule in his studio, “No PDF ever leaves the studio as a final product.” He prints all posters with letterpress printing presses. His mostly typographic posters have won international awards and been in exhibitions all around the globe.