Coffee with Fred

The Fairbank Calligraphy Society in Victoria is blessed with several ‘elders’ - a group that tries to keep us on the straight and narrow when it comes to making good letters. Fred Salmon is one of ‘our elders’ - and I recently dropped by to talk calligraphy and type with this amazing gentleman, who spent years as a commerical lettering artist. One could easily explore his front room for hours, where calligraphy originals cover pretty much all the wall space, leaving room only for the rack of typography books, the Mac in the corner, and the table where he brought out his Cuban chocolate and coffee con leche.

These days, Fred claims to ‘hoard’ calligraphy, wine, dark chocolate, coffee and fonts. And it’s true, there’s not much room in his house for anything else! Fred has designed a playful font called “Mouse Roman” and the above sample is of one of several variations of the font. I love the serifs on this one.