Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley

Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley MBE[1] (also known as Lida Lopes Cardozo and Lida Cardozo Kindersley) (born 1954) is a letter-cutter, typeface designer, author and publisher and runs the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.[2] She is considered the foremost letter-cutter currently working in the United Kingdom[3][4][5] and is "dedicated to the increase of good lettering in the world".[2] Her work in slate, stone and other media includes carved memorials, plaques, inscriptions and sundials which can be seen at many public locations in the United Kingdom and beyond. Her works include the ledger stone for the grave of William Blake at Bunhill Fields. With her first husband David Kindersley she also designed the main gates for the British Library.

Ledger stone at William Blake's grave, Bunhill Fields, 2018.

Early life and education

Lida Lopes Cardozo was born in 1954 in Leiden in The Netherlands.[6] She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 1976 where she studied lettering with typographer and designer Gerrit Noordzij. It was in his classes that she realised that she wanted to create letters and work in carving stone.[7][8]

Career
The British Library entrance gate and shadow.

In 1976 she met British stone-carver and type designer David Kindersley at a conference about type design, and soon afterwards relocated to the UK to become his apprentice at his workshop in Cambridge.[9] This association developed into a close creative partnership which lasted until David's death in 1995.

Lida and David collaborated on many creative works including the British Library gates, a 1980 memorial stone to Richard III at Leicester Cathedral[10] and Stations of the Cross for the London Oratory School and in establishing the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.[11]

In her subsequent career Lida has created works across the UK and beyond as public and private commissions with a particular focus on gravestones and memorials.[9]

Many of her works can be seen in Cambridge and Cambridge University, including a memorial for Stephen Hawking at Gonville and Caius College.[12]

In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to lettercutting.[13]

Sundials
Sundial at Pembroke College, Cambridge

Lida has cut a number of sundials on public buildings including Selwyn College[14] and Pembroke College, Cambridge.[15] In her work on sundials Lida has collaborated with Dr Frank King, Chairman of the British Sundial Society and Keeper of the Clock at Cambridge University, realising more than 20 of his sundial designs.[9]

Type design

As well as hand-cut letterforms, Lida has designed several digital typefaces including 'Emilida', commissioned by music company EMI[7] and 'Pulle' which is based on letterforms Lida has been cutting for over 20 years and offers a very large range of letter heights rather than variations in weight.[16]

The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop
Entrance to Wesley House, Cambridge, designed by Lida Cardozo Kindersley

The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge was established by Lida and David Kindersley and since 1977 has occupied its current location in a converted Victorian school.[11] Lida trains apprentices in lettercutting by hand, each usually staying at the workshop for three years.[2]

Lida and David co-authored a number of publications on the art of lettering and the importance of apprenticeship and their workshop. Lida has continued to write on these and other subjects and also publishes works through the Cardozo Kindersley imprint.[9][17]

The Shingle Street Shell Line
The Shingle Street Shell Line

In 2005 Lida and her childhood friend Els Bottema started to arrange a line of shells on the beach at Shingle Street in Suffolk. They began the line as a way of coping with their shared experience of cancer treatment and have returned regularly to maintain and add to the line since then.[18][19][20]

Personal life

Lida Lopes Cardozo married David Kindersley in 1986 and they had three sons together.[11] Two of their sons have joined her in working in the workshop.[9] Her second husband Graham Beck now runs the workshop with her.[21]

Selected publications
  • Kindersley, David; Lopes Cardozo, Lida (1981). Letters Slate Cut: workshop practice and the making of letters. London: Lund Humphries. ISBN 0-85331-429-2.
  • Lopes Cardozo, Lida (2009). The Annotated Capital: on the thinking behind the capital letter of the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521197229.
  • Meara, David; Kindersley, Lida Lopes Cardozo (2013). Remembered Lives: personalised memorials in churches. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley Workshop/Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-66448-7.
  • Lopes Cardozo, Lida; Meara, David (2017). Cutting it in Oxford: Kindersley inscriptions in the city and county. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley. ISBN 9781874426219.
  • King, Frank; Kindersley, Lida Lopes Cardozo (2019). Sundials: Cutting Time. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley Editions. ISBN 978-1-874426-23-3.
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References
  1. "National Honours". heritagecrafts.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  2. "The Art Workers' Guild | Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley". www.artworkersguild.org/. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  3. McCue, Jim (28 April 2012). "Line from the shore gives shells new life". The Times. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  4. "Final resting place of William Blake honoured at last". www.friendsofcoleridge.com. 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  5. Marking Time (Radio broadcast). BBC Radio 4. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  6. "Lida Lopes Cardozo << MyFonts". www.myfonts.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  7. Middendorp, Jan (2004). Dutch Type. Berlin: Druk. ISBN 9783982003702.
  8. Loxley, Simon (2006). Type: The Secret History of Letters. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9780857730176.
  9. Spencer, Alex (26 February 2019). "Kindersley stone cutting workshop launches new books". Cambridge Independent. Cambridge. ISSN 2398-8959. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  10. Clare, Karen (2013-02-22). "King Richard III: tales of the unexpected". Family Tree. Huntingdon, England. ISSN 0267-1131. OCLC 865936835. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  11. Hoare, Lottie (4 February 1995). "Obituaries: David Kindersley". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  12. "Memorial to Professor Stephen Hawking". www.cai.cam.ac.uk. Gonville and_Caius College, Cambridge. 2018-09-18. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  13. "MBE for lettercutter Lida as she prepares to mark David Kindersley's centenary". Stone Specialist. Stone Specialist. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  14. "Cambridge time expert fears sundials are 'old hat'". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  15. King, Frank (1 August 2010). "A Selection of Cambridge Sundials" (PDF). www.cl.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  16. "The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop – Type design". The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  17. "For Nature Cannot Be Fooled by Lida Kindersley – The Lettering Arts Trust". The Lettering & Commemorative Arts Trust. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  18. "Shingle Street shell line inspired by friends' cancer treatment". www.bbc.co.uk. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  19. "C Shells". outhousefilmworks.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  20. Cardozo Kindersley, Lida (1 March 2018). The Shingle Street Shell Line. Cardozo Kindersley Editions. ISBN 978-1874426226.
  21. "The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop – History – The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop". www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
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