Portrait: Hannah Rabenstein

#bayernkreativPORTRAIT: Hand lettering artist Hannah Rabenstein tells us about the magical "click" in 2008 that sparked her love of letters and about her diverse creative projects in the Franconian metropolitan region of Nuremberg. After studying design, Hannah took the bold step of becoming self-employed and has been beautifying the world with her pretty letters ever since. Whether on menu boards, cars, shoes or streetcars - Hannah gives every project a unique touch. The future? Hannah hopes that her enthusiasm for letters and lettering will continue and shares her professional goals and dreams with us - let us inspire you!

Dear Hannah, you are a hand lettering artist from Nuremberg. Tell us, how did this come about?

The art of beautiful letters has always fascinated me, but for a long time I didn't think I had a knack for it. Until my very personal key moment, around 2008, when I first really came into contact with calligraphy myself. It simply "clicked" and I thought: "Heavens, how beautiful letters actually are! Then I was more or less hooked: I left drawing and painting behind and devoted myself entirely to our 26 glyphs. After studying design at the Technical University of Nuremberg, specializing in typography, I took the plunge into self-employment and have now been self-employed for almost ten years - and I couldn't be happier that I can design my life and my surroundings with pretty letters. Turning my fascination & love into a profession - it may sound trite, but it fits perfectly!

You design wall surfaces, shop windows, panels for restaurants, hotels and retail outlets, as well as objects with your handwriting and decorative messages. How do you go about your work and how can we imagine your day-to-day work?

As is the case with self-employed people: every day is different, a blessing and a curse at the same time. Sometimes you have to work at night, but as a night owl that doesn't bother me much. My favorite thing is first appointments & site visits. I really enjoy getting to know the people behind the scenes, I appreciate the initial exchange and the conversations - where I can often quickly develop an initial picture in my mind's eye. For example, I touch the walls that I am to design, get an overview of the conditions, surfaces and the room itself. Which techniques can I use, which colors make sense or are desired, how does my design fit into the surroundings? I usually take photos, which I then edit directly on the tablet for my designs, making it easy to visualize the whole thing. These tools save time in the design phase - and customers can visualize the final result perfectly. Then I pack my things and - depending on the project, of course - I'm on site to work. Otherwise, we are lucky enough to have a large studio in the north of Nuremberg, where I can spread out and work (for example for panel designs or similar).

Dear Hannah, you are a hand lettering artist from Nuremberg. Tell us, how did this come about?

The art of beautiful letters has always fascinated me, but for a long time I didn't think I had a knack for it. Until my very personal key moment, around 2008, when I first really came into contact with calligraphy myself. It simply "clicked" and I thought: "Heavens, how beautiful letters actually are! Then I was more or less hooked: I left drawing and painting behind and devoted myself entirely to our 26 glyphs. After studying design at the Technical University of Nuremberg, specializing in typography, I took the plunge into self-employment and have now been self-employed for almost ten years - and I couldn't be happier that I can design my life and my surroundings with pretty letters. Turning my fascination & love into a profession - it may sound trite, but it fits perfectly!

You design wall surfaces, shop windows, panels for restaurants, hotels and retail outlets, as well as objects with your handwriting and decorative messages. How do you go about your work and how can we imagine your day-to-day work?

As is the case with self-employed people: every day is different, a blessing and a curse at the same time. Sometimes you have to work at night, but as a night owl that doesn't bother me much. My favorite thing is first appointments & site visits. I really enjoy getting to know the people behind the scenes, I appreciate the initial exchange and the conversations - where I can often quickly develop an initial picture in my mind's eye. For example, I touch the walls that I am to design, get an overview of the conditions, surfaces and the room itself. Which techniques can I use, which colors make sense or are desired, how does my design fit into the surroundings? I usually take photos, which I then edit directly on the tablet for my designs, making it easy to visualize the whole thing. These tools save time in the design phase - and customers can visualize the final result perfectly. Then I pack my things and - depending on the project, of course - I'm on site to work. Otherwise, we are lucky enough to have a large studio in the north of Nuremberg where I can spread out and work (for example, on panel designs or similar).

You have been working as a freelance designer and lettering artist since 2014 and have designed countless objects for numerous well-known clients in the Franconian metropolitan region. What was your personal creative highlight?

Oh, the personal highlight was actually last year: in the summer of 2023, when we inaugurated a streetcar and an articulated bus at Plärrer, which I designed together with VAG and N-ERGIE. That was such an amazing moment: you've only seen your design on 2D screens for weeks and suddenly the two vehicles (finally) drive past you. That was really great and I'm so happy that I was able to make our Nuremberg a bit more colorful again - and at the same time, we're conveying such enormously important values and drawing attention to them: Diversity, respect, equality. It's a great example in the truest sense of the word. All in all, I'm happy every time I can bring more color and a good, important and inspiring message into the public space with my lettering art.

As an established and successful artist in your industry, how do you currently rate society's appreciation of art forms like yours?

When I decided to start my own business in 2014, I caught the wave pretty perfectly: we were all kind of "digitally oversaturated", so there was a DIY backlash to all the screens and keyboards. Good for me: the focus on craftsmanship, on the handmade, was realigned and people developed an eye, a feeling and consequently an appreciation for it again. The latter is incredibly important in my work: writing by hand in particular fell by the wayside for a very long time. (Older) people often come up to me, admire my work and tell me that they themselves once trained to be a lettering artist. That touches and motivates me. As an artist, you create something unique every time - and that's one of the best things about my job. Combined with the joy of passers-by or customers, it's a real jackpot. For the future, the optimist in me comes through: In my opinion, we will always need letters and writing. It is and will remain omnipresent. It's hard to say whether the craft will still be so popular or in demand in 20 years' time (hello, AI!), but I certainly hope so! I think the trick is to always go through the world with your eyes open. To keep developing yourself and your talent, to challenge yourself, to leave your comfort zone and to stay curious.

Do you still have a professional goal for the future, a dream that you would like to achieve?

That brings us back to "think big": for a long time, my biggest dream was to design a hot air balloon or even an airplane. On the other hand, this summer I thought to myself: you can see a streetcar and a bus much better on the ground anyway! I would also like to gain more of a (creative) foothold in Portugal, our adopted country, so that I can work there and develop my art further. We're already well connected, so that's a great idea in the long term. What I want to do in the near future: play the drums again, improve my Portuguese and do more free stuff again, i.e. be creative for myself and not "just" work. Maybe learning a new technique again - that sometimes falls by the wayside a little. Apart from that, I'm very happy, every new project is a challenge in itself - even for me - so it never gets boring. I'd like to keep it up!

Find out more about Hannah