Ahn Sang‑soo

Ahn has long been one of the most influential designers in East Asia. His typographical development work in his native Korea has almost made him a household name. He has enjoyed a long career as a designer and educator.

He graduated from Seoul’s Hongik University, where he has been a professor for 20 years. Ahn retired from his alma mater at age 60 and started independent design school PaTI, Paju Typography Institute in Paju Bookcity. He holds a commendation by the Korean Language Academy for his valuable contribution to the advancement of Hangeul (Ahn has four major Korean fonts to his credit).

As early as 1983, he was selected as designer of the year by Design magazine. He is also editor/art director of the underground art–culture magazine Report/Report (1988–2000). From 1997–2001, Ahn was vice-president of Icograda. In October 2000 he chaired Icograda’s prestigious millennium congress Oullim 2000, held in Seoul. In 2001, he organised Typojanchi, an international typography biennale held in Seoul. He received the Gutenberg Prize from Leipzig 2007.