Ugluholt: an Alphabet Book

Ugluholt (Owl Hill) is an illustrated typeface project built on the life at Ugluholt. The life at Ugluholt became my focus since it is my safe haven, a place where there is always peace and calm. It is the place where I feel best, the place where I pick up a pen and paper and start drawing or take a book, head of to some secluded place in the forest and start reading. In the letters you can find the animals and plants that live at Ugluholt. Representing the letter A is auðnutittlingur (common redpull), býflugur and bláber (bees and blueberries) decorate the B and so on through the entire alphabet. I started working on Ugluholt in a typeface design course and decided to continue with the project as my final graduation project. The decision to present the letters as a book seemed fitting as reading books connects me strongly with the life on Ugluholt. Additionally this setup creates a connection to children's alphabet books, in which children learn the letters with the help of illustrations of familiar objects. At the same time it becomes a motivation to learn on, through nature, wanting to understand a larger part of the world outside after having understood its varied local spectrum. I printed a limited number of books. Only 10 numbered copies exist. Here are a few pages from my book. Hope you enjoy.

For the exhibition I painted a big S on wall of the Reykjavik Art Museum and placed the book next to it.

Letterpressed cover

The books were hand-sown.

Introduction:

Look! My letter!

There is something enchanting about the way a child starts discovering the letters. One letter at a time. In the end it is not only letters that the child sees but words and sentences start forming. Suddenly a whole world has opened up. These few symbols of the alphabet form all the knowledge that can be attained and all the stories that have ever been written....