Grignan – Typography and illustration: Our students testify

The start of the academic year for 11 third-year Bachelor's students still felt like a holiday in the Provençal setting of Grignan , home to the Colophon Printer's House . Surrounded by a landscape of plains and mountains dominated by the Grignan castle, our students spent a week discovering two ancient printing methods: letterpress and linocut . Accustomed to digital technology and its software, they stepped out of their comfort zone by engaging with manual techniques. "All this manual work allowed me to take a break from digital technology and also allowed me to learn new ways of doing what will be my profession after my studies," Gustave Sanz reflected on this unique experience.

In contact with "these machines from another era," as Karine Testard describes them, everyone had to demonstrate patience and rigor under the guidance of Yoan, a typographer and printer from the Colophon workshop. "He taught us, with great kindness and patience, how to compose our sentences, find the right characters, then cast them and proof them," says Caroline Lambert.

To leave with " a different vision"

Each participant also remembers an intense but supportive stay, marked by solidarity and kindness in the face of challenges. "We developed a real sense of group cohesion, which was very enjoyable," says Louison Basset. Between walks in the village, a member of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France," and refreshing moments in the gîte's swimming pool, our students leave with "a different perspective" on their future profession, emphasizes Léa Gesset Parment. Entering "the world of printing and typography, its vocabulary, its specificities, its heritage, and its similarities with our current methods," has allowed Altaïr Truphème to improve their "approach to typesetting, to learn to consider the constraints of a technique as well as its opportunities."