3rd September, 2013 by Mota Italic
Dear Friends,
It’s time to write a bit about the next stage for Mota Italic and how we got here. The news has been slowly spreading around, but to many of you this is probably new… The big announcement is that our Berlin shop and gallery will be closing this month – on September 21st to be specific.
But don’t worry, the type foundry and online shop are still open! There is much more to still come.
What happened
About 2.5 years ago we opened our Prenzlauer Berg type shop and gallery. It started extremely modestly with only a few books, some t-shirts, and prints from our first exhibition. Slowly over the next year the shelves grew and we began offering a more extensive collection of type books (mostly imported and ones difficult to find in Germany). Till this point, we have stocked 237 different book and magazine titles and 33 different kinds of typographic merchandise like magnets, necklaces, cards, pillows, games, posters, etc.
(The first weeks in 2011)
(A special arrangement in 2012)
(The shop in 2013)
The gallery space has hosted sixteen exhibitions during this time as well. They’ve included student projects, calligraphers, and intricate installations. The aim was to curate and design shows that were approachable and educational to the general public yet interesting and relevant for the more ‘elite’ Berlin type-crowd. More will be written about the gallery in a following post.
What’s now
The decision to close came only after months of deliberation. There was not one predominant reason leading to this, but rather many factors that when added together, made closing the sensible option.
Our final day will be Saturday, September 21st and will be one long, last party! You are invited to come over and help us finish our wine reserves and empty the shelves of the remaining stock. Everything must go!
Starting now, we are offering 10% discount on most books and objects in the physical shop (offer not valid online). Also, all purchases over €10 get a free copy of Berliner Buchstaben (a €10 value).
What’s next
Just to be clear, in case you were worrying: Mota Italic as a company is not ending — only the brick and mortar shop will close. The company’s focus will return to typeface design (something that has been almost impossible to find time for while managing the shop and exhibitions). Some books and merchandise will still be available through our website for the near future, but fonts will (again) be the priority.
As for exhibitions, the curation, designing, and sharing of typographic shows remains a special interest. We are already working on ways to continue bringing new type-related exhibitions to Berlin (and maybe other cities). We are talking with several studios and galleries to work together to make new exhibitions possible! Don’t fret, there will be more to come!
Thank you
We’d like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who made this experience wonderful.
Thanks to all the great new friends and visitors who’ve stopped by and gotten to know us. Thank you also to everyone who helped support us through tweeting, blogging, and spreading the word about what we were doing. And especially thank you to those who bought books here. You are awesome for supporting your local book shop!
Don’t forget to save the date September 21st for the big, all-day closing party!
- News
See more posts filed under: