
  • Work
  • Client List
  • Capabilities
    • Portfolios
      • Beauty
      • Branding
      • Destinations
      • Dining Design
      • Environmental Graphic Design
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health & Wellness
      • Innovation
      • Motion Pictures
      • Packaging
      • Retail Beauty
      • Social
      • Sweet Brands
  • Culture
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Work
  • Client List
  • Capabilities
    • View Portfolio
      • Beauty
      • Branding
      • Destinations
      • Dining Design
      • Environmental Graphic Design
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health & Wellness
      • Innovation
      • Motion Pictures
      • Packaging
      • Retail Beauty
      • Social
      • Sweet Brands
  • Culture
  • Blog
  • Contact

ALPHABET MYSTICISM

by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts | Apr 12, 2016

ALPHABET MYSTICISM
THE STROKES, THE GRID AND THE CURVES OF MAGIC

Mark off the grid of proportion,
reach for meaning,
touch the reed,
learn the language,
lean in and listen
to the ancient tales.

That is where the alphabet comes from:
the mists of time
and mythic meaning,
the archetypes of the stroke.

I was a wanderer —
and part of that wandering
took me to Harvard [to see my brother Robert,]
and the Houghton.

And part of the journeying took me to Dr. Annamarie Schimmel —
then an Orientalist and Scholar at the Fogg.
I talked to her about meaning, layer in layer, stroke on stroke,
mystery in mystery.

I was talking to our clients about
the alphabet and the mysticism of
the build
of their logo.

Everything has a meaning.
Point is — what do you know about it, where to look,
what lies beneath and within?

Most think of lettering as a kind of crafty thing.
But it’s too old for that. As old as time, told.
The stroke of the I, and the strokes of the O
in the mystery of these —
everything is built on the intertwining
of these two movements.

Drawing letterforms is a mystical journey — it’s a place-making; there is the ink, the white sheet, the drawing tool, the wrist, the fingers, what is there, the black of the stroke and what is not: the paper. the mapping of the letterform, the stringing of the alphabet as a tapestry of storytelling.

The letters have meaning and ancient content — they are sounds of voiced reading, but they are founded on symbolic values, that leads back and back into the kernels of mind, memory and magic.
A mark means something more than —
a mark.

That’s where I live and work.

When I build an alphabet, I’m looking at the soul of the storytelling, turning in hand the nuance of tool, muscular memory and the paleography of 3000 years of proto-sinaitic scratching, ancient semitic markers, the tale-spinning of the journeys of Egyptians, Mesopotamian, Macedonians and the empire builders of the Etruscan clans, the Greeks, the Romans and all the journey going forward to the now.

I look back on it all.
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
ALPHABET MYSTICISM
Some of that patterning, here above —
a string of Girvin fonts.

Designed for Bloomingdale’s, Tiffany&Co., Michael Bierut and Massimo Vignelli, Tiffany&Co., Nordstrom, PanAmerican Airlines, Pennzoil, The Horvitz Trust, FiFA and others,
we keep designing them — the gestural twining of idea and ideal, because: why?

Sometimes, most times, I think that the journey to
a hand-built interpretation of a dream
is more in keeping with the patterning of ideas
closely tuned to the nature of the telling.
A kind of editorial culling of light and dark — sculpting forms that, by nuance — suggest age, newness, commonality, luxury, boldness or delicacy.

Sometimes is you need it — just so.

That’s how you get there — make it by hand.

Measure
meaning
in
memory.

Tim | GIRVINWATERFRONT
F i r e s t a r t e r  &  A c c e l e r a n t
B R A N D  M Y S T I C I S M | Deep Journeys to Team & Enterprise
D i s c o v e r y: http://goo.gl/DNfwS9

HUMANS, BRANDING + H E A R T
GIRVIN BrandJourneys®
http://goo.gl/iyQIzK

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Popular Posts

The Touch of Patterning | Sensate Brandspace, Building Brands, Branding Built Places
2 years ago No comments 96927 views
The Symbolism of the X
14 years ago 19 Comments 47565 views
RETHINKING BRAND AND ITS ARMATURE: ALLEGORY, MYTHIC AND SYMBOLIC DESIGN TACTICS: METAPHORICAL VISIONS AND THE CUMULARITY OF CLOUDMIND®
6 years ago No comments 28128 views
WANDER. WONDER. WISDOM.
6 years ago No comments 23257 views
THE PRESENTATION AT FUTURE IN REVIEW | THE CONFERENCE: FIRE2018
7 years ago No comments 20505 views

Blog Categories

  • Artists
  • Brand Mysticism
  • Brands
  • Concepts
  • Cool People
  • Designers
  • General
  • Human brands
  • Incubation
  • Interior Design
  • Luxury
  • Marketing 2.0
  • Motion Pictures
  • News
  • Places
  • Retail
  • Scent
  • Storytelling
  • Trends
  • Work
  • Client List
  • Capabilities
  • Culture
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

©2025 GIRVIN STRATEGIC BRANDING & DESIGN

We use cookies on our website to give you the best experience on our website. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
%d