New North Press commissions a 3D-printed letterpress font, designed by A2-Type

3D-printed letterpress font
(Image credit: press)

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London's New North Press is on a mission to bring letterpress into the 21st century. To combine the oldest form of print technology with the very latest innovations, the Hoxton-based studio turned to Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel of A2-Type to design a letterpress font that could be 3D printed. 'It was really important to us that the design was something that challenged the notion of what letterpress could be and tested what 3D printing was capable of,' says Richard Ardagh, a New North Press partner. 'When Scott and Henrik presented their design of the letter forms being a wireframe, I knew we were in new territory that felt exciting.' The A23D font was fabricated by specialist model makers Chalk Studios and is now a working part of New North Press' library of type. The project has been documented by Adrian Harrison, whose film – a shortened version of which is previewed here - will premiere at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 13 September as part of London Design Festival's Graphic Weekend.

Victoria & Albert Museum, Seminar Room 1, Learning Centre Screening times: 12:00, 14:30, 16:00 & 17:00

Creating a 3D-printed letterpress font

Creating a 3D-printed letterpress font was a way to 'feed new energy into the craft and really look to the future of letterpress,' says Richard Ardagh

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3D print the A23D font

New North Press worked with Chalk Studios to 3D print the A23D font

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3D-printed letterpress font, designed by A2-Type

A2-Type have created a font in which the letter forms are wireframes. 'We chose to go with something that referenced the production method by being 3D looking,' explains Ardagh.

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The fonts

The fonts were created by polyjet 3D printing, which builds up layers of liquid photo polymer, cured by a UV light

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The font's first use is the specimen posters, designed by A2-Type

The font's first use is the specimen posters, designed by A2-Type

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A 2 Letterpress

Each of the four posters comes in an edition of 50

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Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.