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Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley
MBE
Born1954 (age 69–70)
Leiden, Netherlands
EducationRoyal Academy of Art, The Hague
Known forLetter cutting
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1986; died 1995)​
Graham Beck
​
(m. 1998)​
Children3
Websitehttps://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/
Ledger stone at William Blake's grave, Bunhill Fields, 2018.

Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley MBE[1] (born 1954), also known as Lida Lopes Cardozo and Lida Cardozo Kindersley, is a letter-cutter, typeface designer, author and publisher and runs the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.[2] She is considered the foremost letter-cutter currently working in the United Kingdom[3][4][5] and is "dedicated to the increase of good lettering in the world".[2] Her work in slate, stone and other media includes carved memorials, plaques, inscriptions and sundials which can be seen at many public locations in the United Kingdom and beyond. Her works include the ledger stone for the grave of William Blake at Bunhill Fields. With her first husband David Kindersley she also designed the main gates for the British Library.[6]

Early life and education

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Lida Lopes Cardozo was born in 1954 in Leiden in The Netherlands.[7] She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 1976 where she studied lettering with typographer and designer Gerrit Noordzij. It was in his classes that she realised that she wanted to create letters and work in carving stone.[8][9]

Career

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The British Library entrance gate and shadow.

In 1976 she met British stone-carver and type designer David Kindersley at a conference about type design, and soon afterwards relocated to the UK to become his apprentice at his workshop in Cambridge.[10] This association developed into a close creative partnership which lasted until David's death in 1995.

Lida and David collaborated on many creative works including the British Library gates, a 1980 memorial stone to Richard III at Leicester Cathedral[11] and Stations of the Cross for the London Oratory School and in establishing the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge.[12]

In her subsequent career Lopes Cardozo has created works across the UK and beyond as public and private commissions with a particular focus on gravestones and memorials.[10]

Many of her works can be seen in Cambridge and Cambridge University, including a memorial for Stephen Hawking at Gonville and Caius College.[13]

In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to lettercutting.[14]

Lopes Cardozo is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and in 2023 was conferred with an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) by Cambridge University.[15]

Sundials

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Sundial at Foundress Court, Pembroke College, Cambridg
Sundial at Foundress Court, Pembroke College, Cambridge

Lida has cut a number of sundials on public buildings including Selwyn College[16] and Pembroke College, Cambridge.[17] In her work on sundials Lida has collaborated with Dr Frank King, Chairman of the British Sundial Society and Keeper of the Clock at Cambridge University, realising more than 20 of his sundial designs.[10]

Type design

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Entrance to Wesley House, Cambridge, designed by Lida Cardozo Kindersley
Entrance to Wesley House, Cambridge, designed by Lida Cardozo Kindersley, 2016–17[18]

As well as hand-cut letterforms, Lida has designed several digital typefaces including 'Emilida', commissioned by music company EMI[8] and 'Pulle' which is based on letterforms Lida has been cutting for over 20 years and offers a very large range of letter heights rather than variations in weight.[19]

'Pulle' was first used in public on a glass panel in the newly reopened Cambridge Central Library[20] and also in Lida's design for the new entrance to Wesley House, Cambridge.[18]

The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop

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The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop in Cambridge was established by Lida and David Kindersley and since 1977 has occupied its current location in a converted Victorian school.[12] Lida trains apprentices in lettercutting by hand, each usually staying at the workshop for three years.[2]

Lida and David co-authored a number of publications on the art of lettering, their workshop, and the importance of apprenticeship. Lida has continued to write on these and other subjects and also publishes works through the Cardozo Kindersley imprint.[10][21]

The Shingle Street Shell Line

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The Shingle Street Shell Line

In 2005 Lida and her childhood friend Els Bottema started to arrange a line of shells on the beach at Shingle Street in Suffolk. They began the line as a way of coping with their shared experience of cancer treatment and have returned regularly to maintain and add to the line since then.[22][23][24]

Personal life

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Lida Lopes Cardozo married David Kindersley in 1986 and they had three sons together.[12] Two of their sons—Hallam and Vincent—have joined her in working as letter cutters in the workshop,[10] while the other—Paul—is an artist and filmmaker.[25] Her second husband Graham Beck now runs the workshop with her, along with her daughter-in-law Roxanne Kindersley and her youngest son Vincent Kindersley.[26]

Selected publications

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  • Kindersley, David; Lopes Cardozo, Lida (1981). Letters Slate Cut: workshop practice and the making of letters. London: Lund Humphries. ISBN 0-85331-429-2.
  • Lopes Cardozo, Lida (2009). The Annotated Capital: on the thinking behind the capital letter of the Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521197229.
  • Meara, David; Kindersley, Lida Lopes Cardozo (2013). Remembered Lives: personalised memorials in churches. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley Workshop/Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-66448-7.
  • Lopes Cardozo, Lida; Meara, David (2017). Cutting it in Oxford: Kindersley inscriptions in the city and county. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley. ISBN 9781874426219.
  • King, Frank; Kindersley, Lida Lopes Cardozo (2019). Sundials: Cutting Time. Cambridge: Cardozo Kindersley Editions. ISBN 978-1-874426-23-3.

References

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  1. ^ "National Honours". heritagecrafts.org.uk. 23 January 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley". The Art Workers' Guild. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  3. ^ McCue, Jim (28 April 2012). "Line from the shore gives shells new life". The Times. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Final resting place of William Blake honoured at last". www.friendsofcoleridge.com. 2018. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  5. ^ Marking Time (Radio broadcast). BBC Radio 4. 17 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  6. ^ "The designers behind the British Library gates". British Library. 16 June 2021. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Lida Lopes Cardozo << MyFonts". www.myfonts.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  8. ^ a b Middendorp, Jan (2004). Dutch Type. Berlin: Druk. ISBN 9783982003702. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  9. ^ Loxley, Simon (2006). Type: The Secret History of Letters. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9780857730176. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e Spencer, Alex (26 February 2019). "Kindersley stone cutting workshop launches new books". Cambridge Independent. Cambridge. ISSN 2398-8959. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  11. ^ Clare, Karen (22 February 2013). "King Richard III: tales of the unexpected". Family Tree. Huntingdon, England. ISSN 0267-1131. OCLC 865936835. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  12. ^ a b c Hoare, Lottie (4 February 1995). "Obituaries: David Kindersley". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Memorial to Professor Stephen Hawking". www.cai.cam.ac.uk. Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. 18 September 2018. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  14. ^ "MBE for lettercutter Lida as she prepares to mark David Kindersley's centenary". Stone Specialist. 4 March 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Honorary Fellow awarded an honorary degree from The University of Cambridge". Magdalene College. 23 June 2023. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Cambridge time expert fears sundials are 'old hat'". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  17. ^ King, Frank (1 August 2010). "A Selection of Cambridge Sundials" (PDF). www.cl.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  18. ^ a b "Kindersley". Wesley House. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  19. ^ "The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop – Type design". The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  20. ^ "The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop". luc.devroye.org. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  21. ^ "For Nature Cannot Be Fooled by Lida Kindersley – The Lettering Arts Trust". The Lettering & Commemorative Arts Trust. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  22. ^ "Shingle Street shell line inspired by friends' cancer treatment". www.bbc.co.uk. 17 March 2018. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  23. ^ "C Shells". outhousefilmworks.uk. 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  24. ^ Cardozo Kindersley, Lida (1 March 2018). The Shingle Street Shell Line. Cardozo Kindersley Editions. ISBN 978-1874426226.
  25. ^ Spencer, Alex (21 May 2021). "Lida Kindersley: a life engraved in stone". Cambridge Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  26. ^ "History". The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
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