ANNET STIRLING
I trained as a graphic designer in the Netherlands before studying lettering at the City and Guilds of London Art School with Berthold Wolpe. My formal education was rounded of with an apprenticeship at Richard Kindersley's studio in London.
I had met Brenda Berman at the City and Guilds, and in 1988 we formed Incisive Letterwork, focusing on large scale architectural inscriptions and 'word sculpture'. We worked extensively with Ian Hamilton Finlay designing and overseeing major projects in Glasgow,Hamburg and Karlsruhe, as well as making smaller series for his exhibitions.
Being awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1996 allowed us to travel throughout Italy studying Roman and Renaissance inscriptions. This, a working relationship with a Dorset Quarry and an awareness of the marks tools can make all influence our designing and the way we carve.
We have had 2 solo exhibitions exploring the boundaries of legibility and abstraction in letterform, and a book was published to celebrate the second one, 'Heavens Above'. We have also exhibited in all major Lettering exhibitions in Britain.
In the studio personal pieces are made side by side with commercial commissions, which have included designing and carving lettering for The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Opera House and The Festival Hall.
Amongst our more private commissions are memorials and cremation stones. These are individually designed just as all our work is. All the lettering is hand drawn and hand carved. A meeting is advisable - either at the studio or at your home, in order to look at stone samples and to discuss all the possible choices so together we can arrive at a fitting design. A scale drawing of the proposed memorial and an estimate for the work is then produced without obligation on your part. Often drawings are amended several times before we order the stone from the quarry. We will deal with cemetery and churchyard permits and arrange the fixing of the memorial stone.
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Headstones
Tablets and Plaques
Garden
Public Art Commissions
Miscellaneous
