Hello, I’m Kilian Muster, a typographer & pixelblaster from Germany living and working in Tokyo.
I could call myself designer and save me a lot of questions, yet I prefer[1] typographer, because I identify with the artisanry and being down-to-earth, but I also like the analytic approach to visual communication that typography stands for[2].
Over the years I have been involved in the full range of visual communication, branding and marketing—as creator down in the trenches, but also as creative director and manager.
sometimes in a fit of creativity I find myself putting scribbles on my blog, or I indulge myself in calligraphy. But more often my creative explosions end up in verbal outpourings on twitter as @kilianmuster.
I found interest in books at a rather early stage, my parents and grandparents had countless old books, like an encyclopedia from the 19th century, an old Wilhelm Busch book (which was my first introduction to “comics” in the widest sense) which probably all helped to predispose me for my later career as a Typographer, and nurture my unexhausstible fascination in dead trees.
My interest in type was one motivating factors to start learning Japanese when I was 21. I know it sounds whimsical, but I did that purely as a hobby first. However I studied the culture, language and writing system with such diligence that I somehow ended up living and working in Japan.
Other Ventures
Another favourite past-time of mine is speaking about all things Apple/Mac at the Ringo MUG, Tokyo, if time allows.
I’m also runnig a Podcast (in German) about living and working in Japan, but updating frequency is down to a few new episodes a year now.
The Top Image
If you wonder what the image on the top page and at the top of the left column depicts, it is a composing stick, which typesetters used to line up the letters in the days of lead type.
