Andrew Whittle

Andrew Whittle is a leading letter cutter (letter carver). He has an international reputation built up over the course of a career of over thirty years which has encompassed major public and private commissions. His practice is rooted in the old craft tradition of design for materials, the drawing for each piece must be sympathetic to the medium and tools. He has an extensive knowledge of historical forms, which he happily plunders and adapts to create a unique alphabet specific to each new project. Examples of this working method range from bronze lettering both raised and inlaid at the Dean Gallery MOMA Edinburgh, to incised lettering in stone at the Serpentine Gallery, to wooden handrails in Saltmill Park, Saltash. Other notable commissions include permanent inscriptions at the Tate Britain, the Animals In War memorial in Park lane, the Champions sculpture in Newham and many others. Andrew says, my influences include Eric Gill, Ralph Beyer and Michael Harvey. However my real tutors are the many students whom I have taught over the past twenty five years. I take a sculptural attitude to my pieces believing that they should be lettered forms, not simply an inscribed surface. Dorset