Silent Haych
Modern Calligraphy & Hand Lettering
London, UK
About
Now that you know why Silent Haych is Silent Haych* (if you don’t then scroll to the bottom of the page), then you may now be wondering why I am the way that I am.
Oh, you dont? Good, well let’s carry on then.
As a young child sitting in school back as a 6 year old, I, and the rest of the class, were introduced to, as the teacher described it, ‘joined up handwriting’.
I found it fascinating, it wasn’t just handwriting; it was art. I’d get my Dad to buy me stacks of notepads as I frantically write the letter ‘H’ repeatedly all over the pages.
My Uncle - who was a Pepsi truck driver - back in Mauritius would give me a pile of Pepsi-branded exercise books.
But, these ‘try get through all of these notepads’ challenges were achieved with much ease - the thirst to improve my handwriting and going through papers was proving insatiable.
As the years went on, and the completed notepads resembling a small village, the desire to improve also came with several ideas to experiment with my handwriting too - even at school.
My teachers gave a 10-year old Haych, certainly not a silent one, a huge telling off - infront of my disinterested Mum - for constantly changing my handwriting from page-to-page.
“They can read your handwriting, can’t they?”, my Mum asked me with much bemusement as we walked home. “Yeah” I reply, nonchalantly kicking the air pretending a football is at my feet. “What are they complaining about then?” “Don’t know, they are dumb - my handwriting is better than theirs”. She nods in agreement.
It was quite something then in the following year, when handwriting lessons would take place and be told that it wasn’t necessary for me to take part.
“Your handwriting is very neat and you have your own clearly defined style.”
My grin was huge, looking outside into the playground imagining that now would be a good time to perform an ear-cupping football celebration. I won.
As the years went by, my handwriting settled but so did my enthusiasm for it. On the odd occasion, I’d seek to change up a letter to see how it would look aesthetically. But, I didn’t really know that calligraphy or lettering was a ‘thing’.
Fast-forward a few more years, and Apple not only introduce another line of iPads but also the Apple Pencil. This immediately got my attention.
I had to get it. I actually only got the iPad first - so I was practising with my finger, which was a peculiar experience. But, the possibilities were already, seemingly, endless. From colours, to shapes, the flexibility of it all reignited that little boy in me.
I started to print and hang up some of my stuff on my work desk wall, which were immediately noticed.
A couple of my colleagues encouraged me to take it further. I toyed with the idea and finally took a leap of faith. Or death. Selling my work on Instagram taking on custom orders and experimenting further in collaborations with like-minded creatives.
So, now I’m here. I guess this is just a long winded way of saying that I'm a digital artist, expressing through modern calligraphy and hand lettering.
The shop is open so you can experience my hard work and designs that may inspire and feel good to have in your home.
What are you waiting for then? Get yourself to the HaychMarkt to discover and shop the collections.