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 The essay by Jérôme Knebusch compiles a detailed chronology of the different editions and presents rare and unpublished material from the archives of the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main.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.
Triennals, prefiguration event of the Luxembourg young contemporary art triennale, with former triennale participants. Custom single-typeface and 'ongoing' visual identity which will evolve in the Brave New World Order identity of the triennale held one year later. See this website for more.
Triennials, visual identity & custom typeface, Rotondes, Cercle Cité, Casino Luxembourg, 2020.
Of all the title fonts from the Klingspor type foundry, Neuland was probably the most frequently used abroad. But how was it produced? A letter Koch sent to Ernst Kellner in 1922 raises more questions than it answers, and designers have speculated for nearly half a century about whether Koch really cut the hallmarks without any preparation. Dan Reynolds has examined the various sources; Edvinas Žukauskas and Jérôme Knebusch have digitised the different sizes for the first time. The essay Making Neuland and the typeface Koch Grotesk were published by Poem for Neuland’s centenary in 2023. Conference held at ENSAD Nancy, 28 November 2023. It was recorded, link below.
Making/Remaking Neuland, conference, ENSAD Nancy, w/ Dan Reynolds & Edvinas Žukauskas, 2023.
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.
Nouveau, custom typeface, Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy, w/ Philippe Tytgtat, Nancy, 2018-2020. Graphic design Lab.Leblond.Tytgtat.
Drawing Time / Le temps du dessin, Musée des Beaux-Arts & galeries Poirel, Nancy, 2010.
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.
Koch Lichte Grotesk, typeface, 2023, w/ Edvinas Žukauskas. Published by Poem.
Philly Hands is a concise but in-depth survey description of Philadelphian street penmanship, written and photographed by François Chastanet. It explores the Philly writers’ lexicon of ‘hands’, ranging from the original Gangster Prints to the Tall Hands, Wickeds, Stiff Hands, Punchlines, and more. It also provides a rare glimpse into the preparatory work done on paper before performing in the street. Through ductus diagrams, the inner tracing logic of landmark letters is revealed, offering insights into the unique calligraphic tradition of Philadelphia – nicknamed ‘Whip City’ and celebrated as the land of extreme cursivity. With a legacy spanning more than fifty years, the city has much to offer to lettering enthusiasts. Some cities are able to develop their own scriptural ‘texture’, going beyond individual experiments with the image of the name. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.
Philly Hands, François Chastanet, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2024.
The Musée d'Orsay is dedicated to artistic expression from the period 1848–1914. With an annual attendance of 3.5 million visitors, it stands as one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions. Its complete visual identity overhaul, undertaken by the Paris-based graphic design studio Zoo, offers a contemporary interpretation of the museum’s artistic legacy by establishing a clear, readable, and engaging visual language. As part of this redesign, an exclusive typeface was created in two styles. This typeface is a modern reinterpretation of the typographic developments of La Belle Époque, channeling the vitality of the era to which the Musée d'Orsay is devoted. The roman style presents a distilled interpretation of the 19th-century French Elzévir genre, while the italic revives the Coulée Italique Elzévirienne, originally cast by the Parisian foundry Beaudoire & Fils. The italic also features a set of swash capitals. Both styles were drawn by Rafael Ribas, with advisory, mastering, and production by Jérôme Knebusch. Some images are excerpted from the 2023/2024 program, where the typeface is paired with Antique Legacy.
Orsay Elzévir, custom typeface, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2023. Advisory & production for zoo, designers graphiques / Rafael Ribas.
Sophie Dubosc. Avec ou sans raison, Sophie Dubosc, Frac Normandie, Rouen, 2016.
Visual identity and design of the Brave New World Order – Triennale Jeune Création website. The young art triennale is a major event for emerging artists from Luxembourg and the Greater Region. The website showcases 40 artists and a forum, initiated during the Covid pandemic which delayed the exhibition for one year. Each artist could login and update his profile. The starting page is randomly customized, displaying each time in another order the black and white identity drawings. The identity integrated the custom design of a typefaces in two styles.
Brave New World Order – Triennale Jeune création, Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, 2020-2021, w/ Thomas Bouville.
Until the advent of talking pictures, cinema had been referred to as silent. To compensate for the absence of sound, films were punctuated by numerous ‘intertitles’ containing a fixed text, interspersed among the sequences of moving images. Intertitles could be hand-painted on thick paper or glass plates, using brushes or round-tipped nibs, by teams of letterers capable of producing up to 100 cards a day. Yet today we know almost nothing about these technically gifted craftsmen. However, at the end of the 1910s, in the United States, the name of a technician occasionally appeared in the film credits: that of Victor Vance, a letterer associated with the Warner Bros. studio. His distinctive style of lettering, constant over the years, was based on a virtuosic use of the brush. Considered a ‘title-artist’, he also wrote in 1930 an article on how to paint intertitles. This account sheds valuable and precise light on the methods used to produce intertitles and the way these objects were viewed at the time. Written by Julien Van Anholt and edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.