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

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 Variable
Date
2020
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Award
Typo­graphica 2012
Award
Best ten fonts of the year, Fontwerk 2012
Publication
Poem

Instant Variable, typeface, 2020. Published by Poem.

Durandus, Hochschule Mainz, Gutenberg Museum, 2016.

Etienne Pressager, Malzéville, 2006. etiennepressager.fr

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.

A letter from Sancho Panza to his wife, HEAR Mulhouse, 2015.

Biography, 2003-2018 [folded], Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2019. Published by Poem Original artworks here

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.

Title
Triennale Jeune Création
Date
2020–2021
Type
Visual identity, Editorial design
Client
Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg
Place
Luxembourg City
Material
Website
Website
bravenewworldorder.lu
Co-design & development
Thomas Bouville

Brave New World Order – Triennale Jeune création, Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, 2020-2021, w/ Thomas Bouville.

Invitation and program designed for Kunst Archiv Darmstadt. The archive collects works from artists related to the city of Darmstadt. The vertical alignment of the letters reminds book spines, as well as the monumental historical lettering on the building. Typeset in Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse's Hesse Antiqua, who lived with her husband in Darmstadt. Letters revived by Ferdinand P. Ulrich. The smaller texts are composed with Martin Majoor's Comma Sans.

Title
Kunst Archiv Darmstadt
Date
2025
Type
Visual identity
Client
Kunst Archiv Darmstadt
Place
Darmstadt
Material
Invitations, programme
Typefaces
Hesse Antiqua, Comma Sans

Kunst Archiv Darmstadt, invitation and program, 2025.

The remarkable edition of Das Blumenbuch [The Flower Book] was published several times between 1929 and 1942, from small 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. Rudolf Koch, explains in a letter that he ‘collected [flowers] at random and without any particular aim. I ketched only the ones which grew in and around Offenbach … This collection is intended to give people a taste of summer while it is winter.’ One member of Koch’s ‘Werkstatt’, the young Fritz Kredel, engraved most of the 250 drawings in pear wood. Online lecture given at ANRT Nancy. With rare and unpublished material from the Klingspor Archives. Courtesy Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main. Video recording link below.

Title
About the Blumenbuch
Date
2020
Type
Research
Client
Atelier National de Recherche Typographique
Place
Nancy
Material
Conference
Video
ANRT 2020

O. Offenbach [About the Blumenbuch], lecture, ANRT Nancy, 2020.

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.

Title
Orsay Elzévir
Date
2023
Type
Type design
Client
Musée d'Orsay
Place
Paris
Material
Custom typeface
Type design
Rafael Ribas
Art direction, graphic design
Zoo designer graphiques, Paris
Advisory, production
Jérôme Knebusch
Photography
Victor & Arthur Brun

Orsay Elzévir, custom typeface, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2023. Advisory & production for zoo, designers graphiques / Rafael Ribas.

Garden Party, Sébastien Gouju, Saarländische Galerie, Berlin, 2011.

Schriftgestaltung: zwischen Leserlichkeit und Ausdruck, Hochschule Darmstadt, 2016.

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