On 31 May 2025, the Now25 conference will take place in Paris. Join us, to listen a mix of inspiring speakers evoking topics as broad as graphic design, web design, motion design, publishing, visual identity, communication and type design. If not already done, register now to take advantage of the best rates.
It seemed interesting to us to make you discover the profiles of our guests. Discover Megan O’Connell.
Biography Megan O’connell career as a printer and teacher is multimodal. As founding director of Salt & Cedar [Detroit | Paris], she has curated exhibitions & events, created a storefront bookshop, led workshops, collaborated with poets & artists, and produced for clients internationally. As an educator, O’Connell was the founding director of the Typography Lab at the University of Oregon [1994–2006] and since that time has been a visiting professor at many institutions, including School of Visual Arts [NYC], where she teaches type history. In 2015, she was invited by Anthony Bourdain to join his Rare Craft Collection, creating a “portable press” for the tour. As artist-in-residence at p98a.berlin and the Balvenie Distillery in the Scottish Highlands, O’Connell continued to experiment with traditional and non-traditional print.
Interview
What is your favorite way to start a day?
Megan O’Connell I take my planner and a hand-bound journal to the terrace of my “local”, mapping out plans for the day/week ahead and doing some personal writing while sipping a café crème. No matter the weather, I opt to sit outdoors.
Are you who prefer absolute silence or a kind of music to listen to while working?
Megan O’Connell There is no such thing as silence in the studio: the ambient sounds of tearing paper by hand and the rhythms created by operating the manual press are present. My go-to Parisian station is Radio Libertaire 89.4 FM, without gods or masters. It’s gratifying to listen to my “hero” musicians/bands that I’ve printed for, like Josephine Foster, Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Frank Black, and Pere Ubu.
Do you read news?
Megan O’Connell World News: Al Jazeera, Democracy Now! And The Guardian. For books on letterpress and typography, I visit Bibliothèque Forney and the library at École Estienne.
“Since establishing a letterpress in Paris, I have acquired a variety of vintage wood and metal French type. Finding ‘excuses’ to test all of it in a focused way lets me see what’s in the cases and where the gaps might be.”
– Megan O’Connell
What diversions do you have?
Megan O’Connell Because the atelier is very near the Seine, I gravitate towards it. And, in the opposite direction, just a few blocks away, are Hôtel de Sully and Place des Vosges—havens, both. I have a Puch bicycle, built in 1977, that takes me further afield.
How do you organize your professional life between teaching and clients for your lettering projects?
Megan O’Connell Nearly everything I am immersed in, whether creative, cultural, or client-based, relates to my design pedagogy.
What is your inspiration to create and to find your favourite typeface?
Megan O’Connell Since establishing a letterpress in Paris, I have acquired a variety of vintage wood and metal French type. Finding excuses’ to test all of it in a focused way lets me see what’s in the cases and where the gaps might be. Even if I am just composing a specimen for in-studio use, I revel in physically discovering the forms, while gaining a sense of what their potential is.
I am a lettering omnivore, so there is no such thing as a “favorite”. At Salt & Cedar, however, the house serif font is Vendôme and the sans serif is Antique Olive. I hold a special affection for Banco, Banville, Choc, Mistral and Nord which I have in metal in the atelier. Suffice it to say that, at this juncture, all things Fonderie Olive, especially the designs of Roger Excoffon, hold my attention.
“Since establishing a letterpress in Paris, I have acquired a variety of vintage wood and metal French type. Finding ‘excuses’ to test all of it in a focused way lets me see what’s in the cases and where the gaps might be.”
– Megan O’Connell
How do you see the future of letterpress?
Megan O’Connell The future is solid, due to lasting materials and well-engineered machines. My former teaching lab was featured in an article titled “Thinking in Solid Air” in Eye Magazine years ago, and this title and the claims made therein still resonate. A reassuring characteristic of letterpress that I have witnessed over past decades is that it always finds a way to reinvent itself to stay relevant.
What is the creative process you enjoy the most?
Megan O’Connell He totality of it: locating a concept, deciding on contents, selecting and preparing paper, hand-compositing with actual type, arranging all components on the bed of the press, locking-up the forme, mixing ink, proofing, editing, recomposing, running multiple copies, weeding some out, and, finally signing and distributing the finished edition. Of primary importance is using the appropriate ‘ “voice” for the content I am addressing.
“Of primary importance is using the appropriatese‘ “voice” for the content I am addressing.”
– Megan O’Connell
Do you remember when you decided to pursue your career in design?
Megan O’Connell Crazy as it may sound, I have had scant formal design training. My own teaching has been steeped in theory and practice across many different fields and modalities, design being just one aspect. As a very young child, the materials at Montessori School laid the foundation for my interest in “design”, in particular the sandpaper letters through which I developed a love of letterform [Futura!], as well as the attendant activities of reading and bookmaking. Later, as an undergraduate student, I served as the first intern at Minnesota Center for Book Arts where I reconnected with the tactile qualities of letters through foundry type. Instead of focusing on formal design issues, my energies were centered around type and printing, from traditional bookmaking to the antecedents of avantgarde groups.
At this time, I taught at Walker Art Center, where I reached further to embrace image/text and the vivid presence of event art and artist’s multiples. For me, established practices always have been tethered to emergent ones; I am inclined to collaborate with a poet, artist, filmmaker, photographer, performer, composer, choreographer, or musician—or any combination thereof—to make something complementary to our respective practices.
When you started, who were the teachers, who had the most impact on you?
Megan O’Connell As an undergraduate, Prof. Jeffrey DeShell, Chair of Creative Writing, University of Colorado. As a graduate student at the University of Iowa, Prof. Kay Amert,School of Journalism; Prof. Hans Breder, Chair of Intermedia and Video Art; Timothy Barrett, Research Scientist and Paper Specialist at the University of Iowa Center for the Book; Prof. David Dunlap, Painting; Prof. Estera Milman, Art Historian and Founder of the Alternative Traditions in Contemporary Art Archive; Prof. Jim Snitzer, Photography and the Director of the Print Lab which housed a Heidelberg offset press for student editions.
During your multimodal career, which experience taught you the most?
Megan O’Connell Several times, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have completely started my life over from square one. I learned that, after shedding so much again and again, my studio is my home.
What speaker (in particular, it’s more fun!) wouldn’t you want to miss at Now25?
Megan O’Connell There are three presenters I am particularly interested in. First, Ariane Spanier for her connection to Berlin and her use of exceedingly large, dynamic and audacious lettering. Second, the talk by Lucas Sharp on SharpType, which often references traditional letterforms through its elegant and well-crafted offerings. Third, having seen the panel “Power in the World of Type” that Veronika Burian was a part of at ATypI 2023 in Paris makes me eager to hear more from her.
Thank you very much Megan!
– Interview by Tessa Drexler
Register to the graphic & type conference in Paris ➼ Now25 conference
Learn more about TypeParis
➼ Type & graphic designers interviews
➼ Summer25 programme
➼ Reports
➼ Attendees feedback series
SPONSORS
