Professor Ewan Clayton

The experience that I contribute to design comes from my regular ‘day job’ as a calligrapher and lettering artist. I am a part-time professor, writer, and thinker about the future and history of writing in a digital age.

I have had very contrasting experiences that have contributed to this interest which range from living as a Benedictine monk for several years to working as a consultant to Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Laboratory in California. Xerox PARC is the research lab that developed the concept of Windows, the look and feel of the interactive graphical user interface, the Ethernet, and the laser printer amongst many other key aspects of our digital environment.

My book on the history of writing The Golden Thread was published by Atlantic in 2013 and has been translated into several other languages. I am also interested in the practice of craftsmanship and this is the main focus of my current research.