Allport Library and Museum of the Arts

This wonderful gem of Tasmania’s heritage houses colonial works of art, fine and rare books, and decorative arts including 18th and 19th century furniture, silver, glass and fine china. The collections reflect the interests of the Allport family, who settled in Van Diemen’s Land in 1831. Two of the women were accomplished artists, their works covering a wide range of Tasmanian and European life. The men were collectors – maps, books, furniture, fine china.

Given its position within the larger bureaucratic nest of the State Library of Tasmania, the Allport didn’t need a logo. What it did need was a recognisable identity that reinforced its age, its value, and its importance to Tasmania’s collective memory, while at the same time carrying it through the 21st century. This wordmark combines the humanist individuality and geometric clarity of Hypatia with echoes of British 18th century handwriting in Bickham Script.