Rudolf Koch began drawing the Offenbach typeface in 1928, the first size was cut in 1931, and Koch made final corrections on his deathbed in 1934. The type was published from 6 to 60 pt posthumously by Gebr. Klingspor foundry in 1935. Stylistically, Offenbach is a hybrid, pairing wide roman capitals with narrow gothic minuscules, a mixture Koch had experienced in several of his typefaces like Jessen or Wallau. His student Hans Kühne had added to the Klingspor release the ‘German’ gothic capitals as alternative to the roman capitals. Offenbach is a faithful revival of Offenbach Mager, the initial thin weight, based on a one-week workshop in 2022 under the direction of Jérôme Knebusch. The students of the HfG Offenbach studied the archive material in the Klingspor Museum and lead type in the nearby printing workshop in the Bernardbau. The Offenbach typeface is freely usable by anyone, privately or professionally, under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 license. This licence allows free use of the font, provided that the type and author are mentioned when using it (Offenbach by Rudolf Koch) and that no modification is made to its design.
Offenbach, free typeface, 2025. Published by Poem and Klingspor Type Archive / HfG Offenbach.
Rudolf Koch's and Fritz Kredel's remarkable Blumenbuch [the flower book] was published several times between 1929 and 1942, from pocket book editions to precious volumes and portfolios, involving many collaborators, printers and publishers like Mainzer Presse, Ernst-Ludwig-Presse in Darmstadt and Insel-Verlag, Leipzig. The essay by Jérôme Knebusch compiles a detailed chronology of the different editions and presents rare and unpublished material from the archives of the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main. About the Blumenbuch is the first of the Poem Pamphlet series edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch.
About the Blumenbuch, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020.
Europa String Quartet, Marienkirche, Berlin, 2009.
Koch Grotesk is the newest revival of Neuland by Rudolf Koch, designed by Edvinas Žukauskas and Jérôme Knebusch and published by Poem for Neuland’s centenary in 2023. It is the most faithful to Gebr. Klingspor’s products and includes one separate font for each of the nine original sizes. The appearance is rough, especially when comparing multiple sizes. One notices that the characters in each size are not enlarged or reduced versions of the same master. Koch wrote, ‘the inventor of the form and the maker of the punches were united in one person. The typeface was created without a previous draft on paper, from the mass of metal and the [punchcutter’s] tool, as a sculptural task.' Koch Grotesk also includes a tenth font with lowercase letters. For the first time, this tenth font gives designers access to Gebr. Klingspor’s never-released Neuland lowercase and their matching uppercase. Koch Grotesk was accurately redrawn based on the archives at Klingspor Museum Offenbach and Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. Only few, necessary glyphs have been added, and the font names correspond to the point sizes and original German terms. 10% of licence purchases are deposited each year as flowers on Koch's grave.
Koch Grotesk, typeface, 2019-2023, w/ Edvinas Žukauskas. Published by Poem.
Visual identity and design of the symposium & exhibition Gotico-Antiqua, proto-roman, hybrid. 15th-century types between gothic and roman held at ENSAD Nancy in 2019. Design in French and English includes signage, poster, booklets and micro-website where you can find more information about the project (see link below). First use of the Almost typeface.
Gotico-Antiqua, proto-roman, hybrid. 15th-century types between gothic and roman, symposium & exhibition, ANRT/ENSAD Nancy, 2019.
One week workshop with Bachelor students. Design of a digital alphabet where capitals and minuscules have a distinctive different drawing.
Two types in one, Hochschule Aachen, 2019.
A letter from Sancho Panza to his wife, HEAR Mulhouse, 2015.
‘What if' is a typical question for an alternate history scenario, also called Uchronia: choose a starting point in history and imagine a different outcome. Based on Futura Fett, released by the Bauer Foundry in Frankfurt in 1928, the type was pushed to extreme blackness without loosing its historical reference nor becoming a caricature. Decisions Paul Renner took to achieve maximum boldness like opening the counters of some letters were taken even further. The typeface, designed by Constantin Pfeiffer & Jérôme Knebusch and released in 2020, was initially created during a workshop at the Gutenberg Museum Mainz at the occasion of the 'Futura. Die Schrift' exhibition in 2017. It has a single weight (among the blackest one can find), five widths and respective oblique versions. The glyphset is extended with Futura's iconic historical alternates, ‘Schmuck-Elemente' (decorative geometric forms) and a complete range of thin punctuation marks and diacritics.
If, typeface, w/ Constantin Pfeiffer, 2007-2020. Published by Poem.
Hamlet, Bauhaus Universität, Weimar, 2018.
Poster of the Hubba Bubba collage by Jérôme Knebusch (2010, from the Biography series) greatly enlarged and screenprinted by renowned printer Lézard Graphique, Brumath (F). At the occasion of the Aux petits bonheurs poster exhibition in Crest (F), 2020. Limited edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered. The unsigned copies were pasted in the streets of Crest.
Hubba Bubba, Centre d'Art de Crest, 2020. Published by Poem.
Un mot, un matériau, École Française de Saarbruck et Dilling, 2008.
Koch Lichte Grotesk is the newest revival of Lichte Neuland by Rudolf Koch, designed by Edvinas Žukauskas and Jérôme Knebusch and published by Poem for Neuland’s centenary in 2023. Lichte Neuland appeared five years after Neuland in 1928, in the Gebr. Klingspor specimen dedicated to the American market by the Continental Typefounders Association. Koch Lichte Grotesk is an accurate revival of the 12 pt Cicero size, the smallest one. It is currently the only fully identified original size, as shown on the 1928 index card of the German Association of Typefounders. This association was founded at the beginning of the 20th century and most German type foundries were members. It served to represent their interests in economic, political and legal matters. A secondary source are the Lichte Neuland Cicero letters from the letterpress workshop P98A, Berlin. Koch Lichte Grotesk is available in four fonts: 12 Cicero, 12 Cicero Plain, 12 Cicero Inline and 12 Cicero Line. 10% of licence purchases are deposited each year as flowers on Koch's grave.