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

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.

Nouveau is a playful Jugendstil typeface based on a modernist design. Sometimes qualified in German speaking regions as Künstler-Grotesk – ‘Artist Sans Serif'– the typeface gathers different Art Nouveau forms found in architecture, furniture or art and transposes them into one harmonizing design. The typeface is characterized by wide capitals in many variants paired to slightly condensed minuscules with a generous x-height. Five weights range from hair strokes to a robust medium. The six styles (Crocus, Dahlia, Gingko, Nenuphar, Rose, Thistle) are arranged from the most quiet to the most expressive letter­forms. A variable font assembles all styles in one and makes them accessible through a weight and an exclusive flora axis. Nouveau was designed by Jérôme Knebusch and Philippe Tytgat and published in 2022 by Poem. It was initially created as an all-caps custom type for the École de Nancy, the Art Nouveau museum in France.

Title
Nouveau
Date
2018–2022
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Photography
David Axelbank
Award
Type Directors Club 2023
Publication
Poem

Nouveau, typeface, 2018-2022, w/ Philippe Tytgat. Published by Poem.

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.

Title
Koch Lichte Grotesk
Date
2023
Type
Type design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Conference
ENSAD Nancy 2023
Photography
Norman Posselt
Publisher
Poem

Koch Lichte Grotesk, typeface, 2023, w/ Edvinas Žukauskas. Published by Poem.

Decode Blockdock is a font which integrates a representative, uniformed glyph for each encoded Unicode block. Commissioned by Johannes Bergerhausen from Institut Designlabor Gutenberg/ Hochschule Mainz and used for the decodeunicode and worldswritingsystems websites (links below), and its iconic poster together with the missing scripts (ANRT research program).

Title
Decode Blockdock
Date
2015–2023
Type
Type design
Client
Hochschule Mainz
Place
Mainz
Material
Custom typeface
Website
decodeunicode
Website
worldswritingsystems

Decode Blockdock, custom typeface, Hochschule Mainz, 2015-2023.

Nouveau Quellstift is the rounded variant of the Nouveau typeface. In theory, all sans serif types could have rounded versions. Here, it resonates particularly with the origins of Art Nouveau letters, which can be found in writing rather than in typography. The Quellstift, literally ‘source pen’, is a monolinear writing tool made of shaped cork. Rudolf von Larisch promoted its use through his artistic writing courses at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna and his influential 1905 book ‘Unterricht in ornamentaler Schrift’. This modern interpretation designed by Jérôme Knebusch has 36 styles: six weights ranging from thin to bold, and five sub-families arranged from the most quiet to the most expressive forms named after some influential flowers of the Art Nouveau mouvement: Crocus, Dahlia, Gingko, Nenuphar, Rose, Thistle. The Nouveau typeface was initially designed as an all-caps custom typeface for the École de Nancy, the art museum in France, with Philippe Tytgat.

Title
Nouveau Quellstift
Date
2024
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Photography
David Axelbank
Award
Type Directors Club 2023
Publisher
Poem

Nouveau Quellstift, typeface, 2024. Published by Poem.

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.

Instant is an anachronic type family going from thin, quick handwritten letters to stable, black typographic shapes. Each of the five styles correspond to a singular design related to a specific stroke speed and weight: Vivid, Quick, Regular, Slow, Heavy. Hommage to the poet, painter and writer Henri Michaux (1899 – 1984), it questions fundamental differences between handwriting and typography, type family consistency and the relation and usage of roman, bold and cursive faces. Instant was designed by Jérôme Knebusch in 2005 as part of a personal research project at ANRT Nancy. First published in 2012 by BAT Foundry, it is today available at Poem. In 2020, Instant Variable was added to the collection.

Title
Instant
Date
2005–2012
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Article
Typografische Monatsblätter 2012
Interview
Azimuts 2013
Conference
IStype Mono 2013
Award
Typo­graphica 2012
Award
Best ten fonts of the year, Fontwerk 2012
Publication
Poem

Instant, typeface, 2005-2012. Research project at ANRT Nancy. Published by Poem.