Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox artist
| honorific_suffix = MBE
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1954}}
| birth_place = Leiden, Netherlands
| education = Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|David Kindersley|1986|1995|reason=died}}
- {{marriage|Graham Beck|1998}}}}
| children = 3
| known_for = Letter cutting
| website = https://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/
}}
Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley {{postnominals|country=GBR|MBE}}{{cite web |url=https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/national-honours/ |title=National Honours |author= |website=heritagecrafts.org.uk |date=23 January 2016 |access-date=2019-06-01 |archive-date=14 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514163309/https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/national-honours/ |url-status=live }} (born 1954), also known as Lida Lopes Cardozo and Lida Cardozo Kindersley, is a letter-cutter, typeface designer, author and publisher and runs the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.{{cite web |url=http://www.artworkersguild.org/who-we-are/members/lopes-cardozo-kindersley-lida/ |website=The Art Workers' Guild |title=Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley |access-date=2019-06-01 |archive-date=1 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601124139/http://www.artworkersguild.org/who-we-are/members/lopes-cardozo-kindersley-lida/ |url-status=live }} She is considered the foremost letter-cutter currently working in the United Kingdom{{cite news |last=McCue |first=Jim |date=28 April 2012 |title=Line from the shore gives shells new life |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/line-from-the-shore-gives-shells-new-life-8n09pwvpqdg |newspaper=The Times |access-date=2019-06-01 |archive-date=1 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601124135/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/line-from-the-shore-gives-shells-new-life-8n09pwvpqdg |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=2018 |title=Final resting place of William Blake honoured at last |url=https://www.friendsofcoleridge.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=206%3Afinal-resting-place-of-william-blake-honoured-at-last&catid=2%3Anews&Itemid=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208001229/https://www.friendsofcoleridge.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=206%3Afinal-resting-place-of-william-blake-honoured-at-last&catid=2%3Anews&Itemid=1 |archive-date=8 Feb 2024 |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=www.friendsofcoleridge.com}}{{cite AV media |date=17 December 2018 |title=Marking Time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001mnn |access-date=2019-06-02 |medium=Radio broadcast |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |archive-date=15 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415214604/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001mnn |url-status=live }} and is "dedicated to the increase of good lettering in the world". Her work in slate, stone and other media includes carved memorials, plaques, inscriptions and sundials which can be seen at many public locations in the United Kingdom and beyond. Her works include the ledger stone for the grave of William Blake at Bunhill Fields. With her first husband David Kindersley she also designed the main gates for the British Library.{{Cite web|date=2021-06-16|title=The designers behind the British Library gates|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2021/06/the-designers-behind-the-british-library-gates.html|access-date=2021-12-05|website=British Library|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205123901/https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2021/06/the-designers-behind-the-british-library-gates.html|url-status=live}}
Early life and education
Lida Lopes Cardozo was born in 1954 in Leiden in The Netherlands.{{cite web |url=https://www.myfonts.com/person/Lida_Lopes_Cardozo/ |title=Lida Lopes Cardozo << MyFonts |author= |website=www.myfonts.com |access-date=2019-06-01 |archive-date=1 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601124136/https://www.myfonts.com/person/Lida_Lopes_Cardozo/ |url-status=live }} She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 1976 where she studied lettering with typographer and designer Gerrit Noordzij. It was in his classes that she realised that she wanted to create letters and work in carving stone.{{cite book |last=Middendorp |first=Jan |date=2004 |title=Dutch Type |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR9g5xPPJVQC&q=lida+kindersley&pg=PA177 |location=Berlin |publisher=Druk |isbn=9783982003702 |author-link=Jan Middendorp (designer) |access-date=8 September 2024 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002091859/https://books.google.com/books?id=sR9g5xPPJVQC&q=lida%20kindersley&pg=PA177 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Loxley |first=Simon |date=2006 |title=Type: The Secret History of Letters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wn4AgAAQBAJ&q=lida%20kindersely%20gerrit%20noordzij&pg=PT186 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |location=London |isbn=9780857730176 |access-date=8 September 2024 |archive-date=1 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001204721/https://books.google.com/books?id=_wn4AgAAQBAJ&q=lida%20kindersely%20gerrit%20noordzij&pg=PT186 |url-status=live }}
Career
File:British Library Gate Shadow.jpg
In 1976 she met British stone-carver and type designer David Kindersley at a conference about type design, and soon afterwards relocated to the UK to become his apprentice at his workshop in Cambridge.{{cite news|url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/carving-out-a-niche-9062955/|title=Kindersley stone cutting workshop launches new books|last=Spencer|first=Alex|date=26 February 2019|work=Cambridge Independent|access-date=2019-06-02|location=Cambridge|issn=2398-8959|archive-date=2 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602144528/https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/carving-out-a-niche-9062955/|url-status=live}} This association developed into a close creative partnership which lasted until David's death in 1995.
Lida and David collaborated on many creative works including the British Library gates, a 1980 memorial stone to Richard III at Leicester Cathedral{{Cite magazine|last=Clare|first=Karen|date=2013-02-22|title=King Richard III: tales of the unexpected|magazine=Family Tree|url=https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/king-richard-iii-tales-of-the-unexpected/|location=Huntingdon, England|issn=0267-1131|oclc=865936835|access-date=2019-12-27|archive-date=27 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227125040/https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/king-richard-iii-tales-of-the-unexpected/|url-status=live}} and Stations of the Cross for the London Oratory School and in establishing the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituariesdavid-kindersley-1571426.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Obituaries: David Kindersley|last=Hoare|first=Lottie |date=4 February 1995|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=2019-06-02}}
In her subsequent career Lopes Cardozo has created works across the UK and beyond as public and private commissions with a particular focus on gravestones and memorials.
Many of her works can be seen in Cambridge and Cambridge University, including a memorial for Stephen Hawking at Gonville and Caius College.{{cite web |url=https://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/memorial-professor-stephen-hawking |title=Memorial to Professor Stephen Hawking |date=2018-09-18 |website=www.cai.cam.ac.uk |publisher=Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |access-date=2019-09-01 |archive-date=1 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901122920/https://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/memorial-professor-stephen-hawking |url-status=live }}
In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to lettercutting.{{cite web |url=https://www.stonespecialist.com/news/awards-competitions/mbe-lettercutter-lida-she-prepares-mark-david-kindersley%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-centenary |title=MBE for lettercutter Lida as she prepares to mark David Kindersley's centenary |date=2015-03-04 |website=Stone Specialist |access-date=2019-12-29 |archive-date=29 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229175004/https://www.stonespecialist.com/news/awards-competitions/mbe-lettercutter-lida-she-prepares-mark-david-kindersley%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-centenary |url-status=live }}
Lopes Cardozo is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and in 2023 was conferred with an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by Cambridge University.{{cite web |url=https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/honorary-fellow-awarded-cambridge-honorary-degree |title=Honorary Fellow awarded an honorary degree from The University of Cambridge |date=2023-06-23 |website=Magdalene College |access-date=2024-09-07 |archive-date=11 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711144241/https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/honorary-fellow-awarded-cambridge-honorary-degree |url-status=live }}
=Sundials=
File:Foundress Court Sundial - geograph.org.uk - 1037537.jpg
Lida has cut a number of sundials on public buildings including Selwyn College{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-47133011 |title=Cambridge time expert fears sundials are 'old hat' |date=17 February 2019 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC News |access-date=2019-06-02 }} and Pembroke College, Cambridge.{{cite web |url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fhk1/Sundials/WriteUps/CBsundialWalk.pdf |title=A Selection of Cambridge Sundials |last=King |first=Frank |date=1 August 2010 |website=www.cl.cam.ac.uk |access-date=2019-06-02 }} In her work on sundials Lida has collaborated with Dr Frank King, Chairman of the British Sundial Society and Keeper of the Clock at Cambridge University, realising more than 20 of his sundial designs.
=Type design=
File:Wesley House entrance, Cambridge.jpgAs well as hand-cut letterforms, Lida has designed several digital typefaces including 'Emilida', commissioned by music company EMI and 'Pulle' which is based on letterforms Lida has been cutting for over 20 years and offers a very large range of letter heights rather than variations in weight.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/type-design/ |title=The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop – Type design |website=The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop |access-date=2019-08-16 |archive-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731085655/http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/type-design/ |url-status=dead }}
'Pulle' was first used in public on a glass panel in the newly reopened Cambridge Central Library{{Cite web |title=The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop |url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-26284.html |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=luc.devroye.org}} and also in Lida's design for the new entrance to Wesley House, Cambridge.{{Cite web |title=Kindersley |url=https://www.wesley.cam.ac.uk/visit/artwork/kindersley/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928141511/https://www.wesley.cam.ac.uk/visit/artwork/kindersley/ |archive-date=28 Sep 2023 |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Wesley House |language=en-US}}
=The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop=
The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge was established by Lida and David Kindersley and since 1977 has occupied its current location in a converted Victorian school. Lida trains apprentices in lettercutting by hand, each usually staying at the workshop for three years.
Lida and David co-authored a number of publications on the art of lettering, their workshop, and the importance of apprenticeship. Lida has continued to write on these and other subjects and also publishes works through the Cardozo Kindersley imprint.{{cite web |url=https://www.letteringartstrust.org.uk/original-works/denied-by-michela-antonello-d7hfn-jmgr9-g2nh9-yk6a4-z9xep-p8a9a |title=For Nature Cannot Be Fooled by Lida Kindersley – The Lettering Arts Trust|publisher=The Lettering & Commemorative Arts Trust |access-date=2019-12-28 }}
The Shingle Street Shell Line
File:I_walk_the_line%5E_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1082212.jpg
In 2005 Lida and her childhood friend Els Bottema started to arrange a line of shells on the beach at Shingle Street in Suffolk. They began the line as a way of coping with their shared experience of cancer treatment and have returned regularly to maintain and add to the line since then.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-43418646 |title=Shingle Street shell line inspired by friends' cancer treatment |date=17 March 2018 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324124046/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-43418646 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://outhousefilmworks.uk/c-shells/ |title=C Shells |website=outhousefilmworks.uk |date=16 May 2018 |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-date=2 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602012859/http://outhousefilmworks.uk/c-shells/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Cardozo Kindersley |first=Lida |date=1 March 2018 |title=The Shingle Street Shell Line |publisher=Cardozo Kindersley Editions |isbn=978-1874426226 }}
Personal life
Lida Lopes Cardozo married David Kindersley in 1986 and they had three sons together. Two of their sons—Hallam and Vincent—have joined her in working as letter cutters in the workshop, while the other—Paul—is an artist and filmmaker.{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Alex |date=2021-05-21 |title=Lida Kindersley: a life engraved in stone |url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/lida-kindersley-a-life-engraved-in-stone-9200242/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Cambridge Independent |language=en |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614200905/https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/lida-kindersley-a-life-engraved-in-stone-9200242/ |url-status=live }} Her second husband Graham Beck now runs the workshop with her, along with her daughter-in-law Roxanne Kindersley and her youngest son Vincent Kindersley.{{cite web|url=http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/history/the-cardozo-kindersley-workshop.php|title=History |url-status=deviated|website=The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop |access-date=2019-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601124236/http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/history/the-cardozo-kindersley-workshop.php |archive-date=2019-06-01}}
Selected publications
- {{cite book |first1=David |last1=Kindersley |author1-link=David Kindersley |first2=Lida |last2=Lopes Cardozo |year=1981 |title=Letters Slate Cut: workshop practice and the making of letters |location=London |publisher=Lund Humphries |isbn=0-85331-429-2}}
- {{cite book |first=Lida |last=Lopes Cardozo |year=2009 |title=The Annotated Capital: on the thinking behind the capital letter of the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521197229 }}
- {{cite book |first1=David |last1=Meara |author1-link= David Meara|first2=Lida Lopes Cardozo |last2=Kindersley |year=2013 |title=Remembered Lives: personalised memorials in churches |publisher=Cardozo Kindersley Workshop/Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-66448-7 }}
- {{cite book |first1=Lida |last1=Lopes Cardozo |first2=David |last2=Meara |author2-link=David Meara |year=2017 |title=Cutting it in Oxford: Kindersley inscriptions in the city and county |publisher=Cardozo Kindersley |location=Cambridge |isbn=9781874426219 }}
- {{cite book |first1=Frank |last1=King |first2=Lida Lopes Cardozo |last2=Kindersley |year=2019 |title=Sundials: Cutting Time |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cardozo Kindersley Editions |isbn=978-1-874426-23-3}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons}}
- [http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/ The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop official website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kindersley, Lida Lopes Cardozo}}
Category:English graphic designers
Category:British women graphic designers
Category:British letter cutters
Category:Royal Academy of Art, The Hague alumni
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire