Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1907

This is an envelope, a kind of paper architecture really, addressed by Vittorio Pica to Philip Zilcken. Can you imagine being Zilcken, getting this in the post? It’s dated 1907, so this thing has traveled through time. I'm really drawn to the ‘Très Pressé’ – very urgent – scrawled on the front. What’s so urgent, I wonder? What news couldn’t wait? Maybe Pica was trying to impress Zilcken with his own importance, adding a touch of drama to the everyday. There’s something deeply intimate about handwriting, isn't there? Each curve and line tells a story, not just of the words themselves, but of the person who wrote them, their mood, their intention. I love how the address is almost like a little drawing – a flurry of swoops and elegant shapes. It’s a reminder that even in the most mundane tasks, like addressing an envelope, there’s room for expression, for a kind of art.