Jurgen Vercaemst is a Flemish calligrapher born in 1967 in a little town in Belgium, Kuurne. Handwriting was a very important matter in his family in the sense that his father always encouraged elegant handwriting. He was fascinated by handwritten manuscripts and started collecting handwritten pieces since he was a teenager.

At the age of 25, he attended his first workshop with Frank Missant, who ignited his interest in calligraphy.
That first workshop with Frank Missant, along with a documentary he saw on the local television on Brody Neuenschwander’s art, was the start of a life full of calligraphy.

Yves Leterme was his life long teacher/mentor and he attended every possible workshop with Yves. Jurgen crossed paths with Peter Thornton who raised his interest in pure letterforms, the drawing of letters, and composition/layout.

Further teachers were Joke and Liesbeth Boudens, Brody Neuenschwander, Carl Rohrs, John Stevens, Elmo van Slingerland, Torsten Kolle, Ewan Clayton, Christopher Haanes, Julian Waters, Kristoffel & Pieter Boudens, Yukimi Annand, and of course Jan Rossey.

Since April 2018, he runs a coffeebar (www.morriscoffeeandcrafts.be) with his wife Anneke in a little town near Bruges, called Ruddervoorde, where he teaches along with fellow calligraphers. He teaches at home and abroad. A highlight of his teaching was a team teaching along with Peter Thornton at the calligraphy conference in Asheville in 2015, and the Cheerio class along with Elmo van Slingerland in the fall of 2019.

The pencil has been his favorite tool, and at al times he carries his Moleskine notebooks with him.