Dutch designer Wim Crouwel dies at age 90

Dutch graphic designer and typographer Wim Crouwel died in his hometown of Amsterdam at the age of 90, his family confirmed on Thursday, NOS reports.

Crouwel was one of the founders of the influential design agency Total Design in the 1960s. In addition to his work on the telephone book and stamps of the PTT, Crouwel also designed posters and catalogs for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. He created a number of fonts, of which the geothermic New Alphabet from 1967 is best known. He was also a co-designer of the Dutch pavilion at the world exhibition in Osaka in 1970.

Between 1985 and 1944, Crouwel was the director of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. He was also a professor at the Delft University of Technology and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

In July Crouwel received a prestigious award in the United States - his American colleagues from the Type Directors Club awarded him a medal for his entire oeuvre.

Next week Saturday, the exhibition Mr Gridnik, dedicated to Crouwel, will open in the Stedelijk Museum. AVROTROS will broadcast a documentary about the designer on Thursday.