Dafi Kühne

Poster Cult

Dafi Kühne is one of Switzerland’s foremost poster designers whose diverse, bold work embraces both traditional production tools and modern design processes. Although his posters are printed on presses from the 1960s, they do not look like typical letterpress prints. Instead, they connect with the history of letterpress production while pushing the boundaries of long-established graphic and typographic techniques. Using analog printing presses, computer software applications, laser cutters, and freshly cast hot-metal-type, he creates wildly creative, large-format posters. Working from his vast letterpress studio in the Swiss Alps, Dafi Kühne simultaneously drives poster culture and upholds the cult of the poster.

Kühne’s first monograph with Lars Müller Publishers, True Print, served as an introduction to Dafi’s work from the years 2009 to 2016. “Poster Cult” focuses on the processes, background and context that inform his more recent poster work.

Dafi Kühne is one of Switzerland’s foremost poster designers whose diverse, bold work embraces both traditional production tools and modern design processes. Although his posters are printed on presses from the 1960s, they do not look like typical letterpress prints. Instead, they connect with the history of letterpress production while pushing the boundaries of long-established graphic and typographic techniques. Using analog printing presses, computer software applications, laser cutters, and freshly cast hot-metal-type, he creates wildly creative, large-format posters. Working from his vast letterpress studio in the Swiss Alps, Dafi Kühne simultaneously drives poster culture and upholds the cult of the poster.

Kühne’s first monograph with Lars Müller Publishers, True Print, served as an introduction to Dafi’s work from the years 2009 to 2016. “Poster Cult” focuses on the processes, background and context that inform his more recent poster work.

Throughout the book, readers get a sense of his unique artistry, including his strong eye for colour and form and his deep commitment to craftsmanship. ”
– Creative Review

This book is a must-have for anyone who loves posters, appreciates craftsmanship, and values exceptional design—a true collector’s piece for design enthusiasts. ”
Slanted

“Kühne is the consummate poster maker of the 21st century. With his dedication to the form, there can be no doubt that Poster Cult is an apt description and title for his new book from Lars Muller Publishers. It is a tome that questions tired preconceptions and rejects worn conventions.”
PRINT

Author(s): Dafi Kühne

With photographs by Peter Hauser

With a contribution by Angelina Lippert, Christian Brändle

24 × 30 cm, 9 ½ × 11 ¾ in

160 pages, 86 illustrations

2024, 978-3-03778-777-9, English
CHF 50.00
New

Dafi Kühne

Dafi Kühne (*1982) is a graphic designer and letterpress printmaker. He studied Visual Communication at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and and he holds a Research-Masters Degree in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. In his studio babyinktwice.ch in a remonte Swiss mountain valley, Kühne uses a mix of analog and digital tools to create posters for music, art, architecture, theater and film projects, as well as for consumer products. He is guided by one central restriction: “No digital PDF ever leaves the studio as a final product.” Dafi Kühne prints all his posters using analog letterpress printing presses.

Dafi Kühne’s first monograph, True Print was published in 2016, the follow-up Poster Cult in 2024. He teaches on a project basis at various universities in Switzerland, Europe and the USA and runs his own international Summer intense: The Typographic Printing Program. Since 2018, he has been publishing a series of entertaining web videos entitled “The Dafi Kühne Printing Show™,” which in 2021 received both a Swiss Design Award and, in Japan, a Tokyo TDC prize. Kühne’s original posters can be found in public collections and archives in Switzerland, Germany and the USA, and his work has won international awards and been shown in exhibitions around the world.