Tom Perkins - Carved Lettering Home | Image gallery | Workshops and News |Contact Information Tom Perkins is one of the most influential designer-craftsmen working in the field of carved lettering in stone and slate today. His highly individual work is much sought after and has been exhibited and sold in exhibitions at Sotheby's, Bonhams and The Gallery in Cork Street, London.
Biographical details: Born Plymouth Devon 1957 1974-76 Reigate School of Art and Design on calligraphy course 1976-77 Assistant to Richard Kindersley lettercarving in slate and stone 1982 Moved to Sutton Cambridgeshire and established his own workshop 1982-97 Taught lettering at Roehampton Institute Since the 1980s he has taught short courses at various centres including West Dean College.
Commissions: Over the last twenty-five years Tom Perkins has carried out a wide range of commissions including commemorative plaques, memorial stones, stones in the landscape, carved alphabets and quotations. He also works in the area of book jacket and logo design, and is currently working on a typeface design. Commissions to date include: Opening plaque for The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, plaques for British Museum galleries, title lettering carved into the fabric of the building for the Alexander Gibson Opera School, Glasgow for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, carved inscriptions on the theme of herb gardens for Boots plc for their Millennium sculpture garden, plaque and war memorials for the Peace Gardens, Sheffield, five inscribed stones placed along the Peddars Way, Norfolk for National Trails.
Membership of Societies: Fellow of the Society of Designer-Craftsmen Fellow of the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Elected member of: The Artworkers Guild Letter Exchange On the Crafts Council's selected index
Exhibitions: Work has been widely exhibited including in the following selection of group shows: 79 New Faces, British Crafts Centre London 82 The Maker's Eye, Crafts Council Gallery, London 83 Cambridgeshire Artists, Kettle's Yard Gallery 84 Calligraphy 84, Society of Scribes and Illuminators touring exhibition London , Minneapolis and Washington D.C. 86 & 89 Letters in Steen & Calligraphie, Bruges, Belgium 88 Sotheby's Decorative Arts Award Exhibition, London 92 Arts and Crafts to Avant Garde, Royal Festival Hall, London 92 & 93 Decorative Arts Today, Bonham,s, London 93 Letters into Words, the Gallery in Cork Street, London 95 Crafts Council Foyer, London 95 Codes & Messages, Lettering Today, Crafts Council Gallery, London 97 First Choice, Devon Guild of Craftsmen 97 Literary Quotations, Wolseley Fine Arts, London 98 ' The Art of Remembering,' a 'Memorials by Artists' exhibition, Blickling Hall, Norfolk 98 ' L is for Lettering', Cornwall Crafts Association 02 Stone Words, Wolseley Fine Arts, London 02 Living Letters, Calligraphy & Letterings Arts Society, Walton-on-Thames
Awards: The Art Directors Club 5th International Exhibition 1991 Award ( Graphic Design) British Book Design and Production Awards 1993, category winner general paperback book cover design Calligraphy Review Publication award of excellence, 1989 & 90
Publications: Tom Perkins new book: The Art of Letter Carving in Stone: Published by The Crowood Press 2007 Tom Perkins: Lettercarver - introduction by Gerald Fleuss pulbished by Calligraphic Enterprises for the Edward Johnston Foundation. His work has appeared in a number of publications, a selection of which are:- 'Applied Calligraphy & Lettering' (section) R. Sassoon ' The Calligrapher's Handbook' ed. H. Child ( chapter on drawn Roman capitals ) 'Modern Scribes & Lettering Artists '1 & II 'The Calligrapher's Project Book' ( section) S. Haines 'Calligraphy Today' ed. H. Child ''Calligraphy Masterclass' (section) ed.P. Halliday 'Practical Calliigraphy' Nash & Fleuss ' Advanced Calligraphy Techniques' (section) D. Hoare 'A Book of Sample Scripts' J. Woodcock ' Calligraphy Art and Colour' P. Halliday 'Calligraphy Made Easy' G. Goffe 'Lettering Arts' Fink & Kastin 'The Rhythm of Writing' S. Sehmi 'Letterwork: Creative Letterforms in Graphic Design' B. Neuenschwander Letter Arts Review - various issues since 1988 'Kalligrafia' T. Heiskanen & L. Uusitalo 'Font' published by Ditchling Museum & the Edward Johnston Foundation ( article on the geometry of Roman lettering) Home | Image gallery | Contact |