I caught up with Erik last week at the Private View of his one-man exhibit, Erik Spiekermann | The Face of Type, at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. I was late getting to the show but it was probably a good thing as the place was full to the brim with Erik’s acolytes, friends, colleagues and members of the Berlin design scene. The exhibit was similarly packed into the space with examples of Erik’s personal work as a Typeface designer, his book designs and projects for Edenspiekermann, United Designers, FontShop and MetaDesign. If you get the opportunity to go, the show runs until 6 June, so you could drop by if you’re going to TYPO Berlin Shift this year in May.

Erik is a passionate communicator and an honorary Londoner. He is a sometime resident of Stoke Newington and has been visiting the UK since England won the World Cup in 1966. Delegates and speakers alike will find Erik’s humour and opinions are seldom kept to himself and he is an accomplished moderator and conference speaker alternating from English to Deutsch at a moments notice.

Erik has recently been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the German Design Council and there are several stories, links and feeds on Erik’s personal blog as well as an interesting short film entitled ‘Graphic design can change your life’, which is a revealing cameo for those who have never come across Erik or heard him speak.