A23D is a 3D-printed letterpress font commissioned by Richard Ardagh of New North Press. The font is a protoype, connecting the newest and the oldest forms of print technology, and looking to the future of letterpress in the 21st century. The font was designed by renowned type designers Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel, of A2-Type, and fabricated by model making specialists Chalk Studios.
New North Press specialises in traditional letterpress printing, a craft long in decline with the rise of modern print technologies. With wood and metal fonts no longer in large-scale production, it’s a technique constrained by antique tools. 3D-printing has been heralded as ‘the second industrial revolution’ and presents an opportunity to see what the pinpoint accuracy of additive manufacture can achieve.
Adrian Harrison’s short film (above) documents how a new font was born, charting its progress from preliminary sketches to first inking and printing at New North Press.
INFO
Posters / info
http://www.new-north-press.co.uk/
A23D was designed by A2-Type
and 3D-printed by Chalk Studios
Film by Adrian Harrison