Atelier Jérôme Knebusch
Mainzer Landstraße 105
60329 Frankfurt am Main
jk [at] jeromeknebusch.net
+49 69 15 61 60 23

Custom all-caps typeface in medium weight, used throughout the museum's documents and announcements. The nearby, recently restored Villa Majorelle uses the typeface as well for its signage. The typeface gathers different Art Nouveau forms found in architecture, furniture or art and transposes them into one harmonizing design. It is further is characterized by wide capitals in many variants. The six styles (Crocus, Dahlia, Gingko, Nenuphar, Rose, Thistle) are arranged from the most quiet to the most expressive letter­forms. Designed with Philippe Tytgat. Graphic design by Lab.Leblond.Tytgtat, Nancy. The typeface was later extended to minuscules in diverse weights, and published by Poem as a full retail type family in 2022.

Title
Nouveau
Date
2018–2020
Type
Type design
Client
Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy
Place
Nancy
Material
Custom typeface
Award
Type Directors Club 2023
Publication
Poem

Nouveau, custom typeface, Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy, w/ Philippe Tytgtat, Nancy, 2018-2020. Graphic design Lab.Leblond.Tytgtat.

Almost is a typeface between gothic and roman. It was designed by Jérôme Knebusch in five weights and many alternates. They can be endlessly combined, taking either a roman or gothic direction, without falling in a strong, broken script nor becoming a ‘pure’ roman design. Above, uncialesque and bizarre (Byzantine) letterforms and a full set of initials complete the fonts. All take their inspiration in the 15th century, specifically in the period of 1459-1482 with Gotico-Antiqua typefaces like the ‘Durandus’ of Fust & Schöffer, the first type to present a humanistic tendency. A few years later Sweynheim & Pannartz use a type in Subiaco which some consider to be the first roman although gothic influences remain clearly visible. Roman type was finally defined in 1469-70 in Venice by the ‘de Spira’ brothers and Nicolas Jenson. But roman did not precipitate the death of gothic forms, mixtures of gothic and roman were tried out and the two co-existed for some time. Almost is a hommage to these types, which represent a unique, transitory moment in history of typography. More information about Almost on Poem's website.

Title
Almost Italic
Date
2021
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Conference
Gotico-Antiqua symposium, Nancy 2019
Award
Type Directors Club 2020
Award
Typographica 2019
Publication
Poem

Almost Italic, typeface, 2021. Published by Poem.

Custom typeface in two styles, upright and italic, respectively entitled 1981 and 1996. While the first is a relecture of the first digital typefaces and their idiosyncratic approach, the second, more mature, comes closer to 1990s humanistic sans serifs. Used exlusively for the identity design of Brave New World Order – Triennale Jeune Création held at Rotondes and Casino Luxembourg. The young art triennale is a major event for emerging artists from Luxembourg and the Greater Region. The 2021 edition was devoted to the millennials generation. See here the typeface use within the overall design. See here the typeface use within the design of the catalogue. Here for on the signage project. And here for the website. A preliminary version was used here.

Title
Triennale 1981-1996
Date
2020
Type
Type design
Client
Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg
Place
Luxembourg City
Material
Custom typeface

Triennale 1981-1996, custom typeface, Triennale Jeune Création, Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, 2020.

In 2011, students of ESAL Metz started within a workshop with Argentinian type designer Alejandro Lo Celso and their teacher Jérôme Knebusch a specific design for their school. Looking for a bookish typeface tending to modern forms, the students found interesting references in the work of Baskerville and Didot, precisely: exactly inbetween. The type grew during the following years, each time in intensive workshop sessions, to a complete type family named Messine, covering text, display, poster, italic, bold, sans and serif versions. Today, Messine is the official and exclusive typeface of the school, used all over its documents.

Title
Messine
Date
2011–2019
Type
Education, Type design
Client
École Supérieure d'Art de Lorraine
Place
Metz
Material
Workshop programme, custom typeface
Interview
Graphisme en France
Conference
Mets, Messins, Messine, Let's Type symposium, Metz 2013
Conference
Baskerville in France symposium, Amiens 2018
Award
Fine Press Book Association 2013
Award
Ampersand Exhibition 2013

Messine, workshop programme, custom typeface, w/ PampaType, ESAL Metz, 2011-2019.

‘La page projetée. Livres fictionnels au cinéma’ [The projected page. Fictionnal books in movies] is a pedagogical project led by the Institut Page at ESAL Metz, in collaboration with Léo Coquet, Elamine Maecha, and the institute's students. We analyzed existing films that feature fictional books – books that appear only on screen and were never actually edited or published. These books are often reduced to their physical appearance as cinematic props, typically limited to a cover. Yet they actively contribute to the narrative and, in some cases, even extend it. The research project was presented during The 2024 Biennale Exemplaires in Valence and a one-day symposium in Metz, featuring Agatha Masa, officeabc, Alice Planes, and Pierre Leguillon. This event was promoted via social media and a printed poster. A (filled) popcorn cup was handed out at the entrance of the symposium, with the program printed on it.

Title
La page projetée
Date
2024
Type
Research, Visual identity, Editorial design
Client
ESAL Metz
Place
Metz
Material
Poster portfolio, popcorn cup, ads
Publisher
ESAL Metz
Editors
Léo Coquet, Elamine Maecha, Jérôme Knebusch
Texts
Léo Coquet, Emilia Bernard, Corentin Ferry, Alix Hetreux, Yu-Chien Huang, Maddy Lepage, Théo Michaud, Gabin Nivard, Léa Pesant, Valentine Poulet, Erwan Wilhelm
Photography
Léo Coquet
Typeface
Bureau Grotesque
Printing
Édicolor, Bain-de-Bretagne, pok Büroartikel, Berlin, ESAL Metz
Copies
400
ISBN
979-10-90886-22-3

La page projetée. Livres (fictionnels) au cinéma, research symposium, ESAL Metz, 2023. Visual identity, w/ Institut Page

From metal type to phototypesetting, from the typewriter to the Minitel, and from engraving to dry-transfer lettering, the typographical work of Ange Degheest (1928-2009) testifies of the numerous technical changes the printing and telecommunication sectors went through during the second half of the twentieth century. Ange Degheest’s story is remarkable and a perfect illustration of the technical odyssey that took place throughout the twentieth century. Yet it is astonishing and disturbing to realise that, in spite of the quality and diversity of her lettering and type design work, her name has been forgotten amongst the list of those who have shaped the history of typography to this day. Reviving Ange Degheest was collectively written in Benjamin Gomez's type design class at EESAB Rennes by Eugénie Bidaut, Oriane Charvieux, Anaïs Déal, Luna Delabre, Camille Depalle, Mandy Elbé, Justine Herbel and May Jolivet. Afterword 'Ange Degheest, a female ghost of France’s type history' by Alice Savoie. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Ange Degheest
Date
2022
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publisher
Poem

Reviving Ange Degheest, type class EESAB Rennes, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2022.

Decode Old Arabian [North & South], custom typeface, Hochschule Mainz, 2016. decodeunicode.org

Futura Super Extra Bold, Gutenberg Museum Mainz, 2017.

Durandus, Hochschule Mainz, Gutenberg Museum, 2016.

Erhard Ratdolt was one of the most successful and acclaimed printers of the 15th century. He was also a pioneer of new techniques and in 1486 he printed the earliest known type specimen. In this essay Riccardo Olocco analyses the only surviving copy of this single sheet with a discussion on the circumstances of its production and descriptions and identifications of the roman and rotunda types according to existing bibliographical references. The pamphlet is accompanied by a facsimile of the original type specimen. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Ratdolt's Index characterum
Date
2020
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publication
Poem

Ratdolt's Index characterum, the earliest known type specimen, Riccardo Olocco, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020.

Accent sur Est, École Supérieure d’Art, Metz, 2008.

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.

Title
Offenbach
Date
2025
Type
Type design
Client
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Klingspor Museum, Poem
Place
Offenbach
Material
Free typeface
Workshop
Yile Cho, Quirin Fürbeck, Simon Gerstner, Paula Janser, Emerson Martus, Ekaterina Sacharova, Ngoc Anh Tran, Chiara Wißler, Edvinas Žukauskas (Marc Schütz, HfG Offenbach)
Licence
Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0

Offenbach, free typeface, 2025. Published by Poem and Klingspor Type Archive / HfG Offenbach.

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