How free can you be  . . . setting type by hand? The answer seems to be: very. In the capable hands of Romano Hänni the case of lead can produce pages that are light, buoyant, organized and . . . dare I say . . . whimsical.

Whimsy is not usually a hallmark of the hard core Swiss modernist style, but there's a freedom to the individual solutions that Basel-educated Hänni crafts that get some curve and bounce out of the ol' Red White and Black. Using the standard type case and the standard spacing units of the regular type case as enabling contraints, Hänni riffs on books, magazines, catalogues and newspapers in sketches and lock-'em-down-&-crank-'em-through typography

Another of the three great shows currently up at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, the small but power-packed selection of Hänni's pieces gives a real sense of the depth and breadth of this creator.