Ekthesis

A skip-full of Letraset Tom Tebby

Birmingham School of Architecture and Design

In 1998 while studying for my MA in Interior Design a skip full of Letraset and Pantone paper was discovered outside an industrial unit in Eastside – somewhere underneath what is now Jennens Court. Armed with an ancient VW Polo and an empty boot I filled up the car with crates of Letraset and Pantone papers. Letraset is heavy in bulk and the suspension groaned all the way home. Approaching my flat i was stopped by the Police in my heavily laden VW. They were curious about the contents and when I let slip about the skip I had to think quickly and say I had the owners permission to take it – which of course I hadn’t. So what to do with thousands of sheets of Letraset – well use it in a way not normally associated with Letraset (due to the extortionate cost of the stuff) ie liberally and expressively. I started applying it to sheets of paper, wood and Perspex, overlaying it, photocopying it, faxing it, making books out of it –anything other than the cautious and careful way Letraset was normally used. Digging through old boxes of work from my MA I recently rediscovered the pieces on display. The first, a tree type thing with what looks like a figure made from some heavy 70s bold type. The second, a message to my then girlfriend Maria (and still is!) asking her about her trip to Spain and also to let her know that “we found a skip-full of Letraset” – this was then faxed to her. The two other pieces were created as part of the conceptual stage for my MA project which was based on redeveloping Greenwich Pier. These are more resolved and have formed the basis for all the artwork I have done since.

Tom’s artwork can be found in the following places: www.tomtebby.com Instagram: Tom Tebby Twitter: @tomtebby​

Risk assessment -- Degree Show

Details regarding the installation of the work:

- Manual Handling – Trolley to move the wooden plinth structure in and out the foyer

- Extension lead going from the power socket to the iMac -x 1 plug

- The iMac will need to be PAT tested