The Biennale Exemplaires is an occasion for exhibiting, showcasing, and highlighting the work produced by students and faculty at French-speaking fine art and design schools. It is also a venue for meeting and exchange, enriched by a symposium aligned with the research priorities of the participating schools. The main exhibition highlights a selection of recent, francophone publications deemed “exemplary”. To expand upon and complement this selection, each school produces a publication in a format of its choice. The biennial also includes satellite events, an exhibition at the Frac Lorraine, a festive evening, and a book fair featuring a selection of independent publishers. The sixth edition of the Biennale Exemplaires gathered fourteen schools and was held in Metz in March 2026.

The work of the exhibition design and scenography of the main biennal exhibition was undertaken within a dedicated class and group of students during one academic year at ÉSAL Metz. The principal idea was to break the common fragmentation of individual school 'islands' and to propose a library where the selected books come together and can be borrowed to be consulted in the reading spaces of the exhibition.

Three day workshop at ANRT with Tanguy Merkt, Gabriela Simon Flores, Yaprak Buse Çağlar, Marine Monseux, Mickael Bourguer, Arnab Chakraborty. Three custom display typefaces were created reflecting the curatorial choices of the FORA 2026 year at Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain. The typefaces were intended as a foundation for the visual identity, later designed by Jérôme Knebusch. More information here.

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.

One week workshop with Bachelor students. Design of a digital alphabet where capitals and minuscules have a distinctive different drawing.

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.

Art direction, design & organisation of the Pangramme: learning type design call and exhibition together with the Design graphique & Typographie class at ESAL Metz. The exhibition showcases fifty unpublished student type designs. Jury: Andrea Tinnes (Germany), Alejandro Lo Celso (Argentina), Matthieu Cortat (France), Hans-Jürg Hunziker (Switzerland) & Gerard Unger (Netherlands). The exhibtion traveled after ESAL Metz to ESAD Amiens, Le Signe Chaumont, ATypI Montréal and Druckkunst Museum Leipzig. Free PDF download of the catalogue (link below).

One week workshop and research trip with ANRT students at Biblioteca Santa Scolastica in Subiaco, 2018. Digital revival of the two types used (and probably also created) by Konrad Sweynheim & Arnold Pannartz in Subiaco and Rome. Part of the Gotico-Antiqua research program. Published as free OpenSource fonts at ANRT (link below).

Bilingual (French, German) supplement to Pangramme: learning type catalogue, published by ESAL Metz, published at the occasion of the traveling exhibition at Biennale de design graphique Chaumont and Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig in 2017 and 2018. Texts by Andrea Tinnes, Thomas Huot-Marchand, Sébastien Morlighem and Jérôme Knebusch. 15x26 cm, 16 pages pamphlet. Free PDF downloads (links below). More information about the exhibtion here.