Klahr is a graphic designer who has typeset books and bibles for more than 20 years. After watching a video of the calligrapher Hermann Zapf writing, Klahr began learning calligraphy and went on to discover asemic writing, a wordless, open form of writing that leaves meaning for the viewer to fill in. Left-handed, he retrained himself over several years to write calligraphy with his right hand instead.
Klahr's handmade calligraphic works exist between pattern and purpose, described as “elaborate diaries with no author and religious texts with no religion”. Each piece is made with gouache or sumi ink and homemade ruling pens or steel nibs, written and rewritten as many as twenty times before Klahr is satisfied with the result. Klahr says legibility is not the point, only that the visual flow of the piece feels right.
