Margaret Calvert: Roadworks

For the first exhibition in Pentagram’s new Osh Gallery, designer, typographer and fellow Islington resident Margaret Calvert will showcase art pieces inspired by the signage designed with Jock Kinneir for the British road network. Described as ‘a pioneer of design for public service’, Margaret has played a defining role in shaping Britain’s visual identity. Her long and prolific collaboration with Kinneir began when she was just 21, working together on signage for the newly opened Gatwick Airport. That project led to their landmark commission: designing the signage system for the entire British road network—a typographic, pictographic and organisational tour de force that remains in use today and is widely recognised as a modern design classic. More recently, she has worked with Henrik Kubel on Rail Alphabet 2, a revival of the British Rail typeface she originally designed in the early 1960s. The updated version is set to be rolled out across the new nationalised Great British Railways network. One of the most highly awarded designers of her generation, Margaret has received both the Lifetime Achievement London Design Medal and the New York Type Directors Club Medal. A comprehensive new book celebrating her life and career, Woman at Work, will be published by Unit Editions (now owned by Thames and Hudson) later this year. For Roadworks, Margaret has designed a special series in the form of a set of five different colourways of the 5mph sign. These will be raffled and given to five lucky attendees on the exhibition preview night.