Two Rivers, Wisconsin — P22 Type Foundry and Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum announce the newest addition to the Hamilton Wood Type (HWT) Legacy Project: Brylski.
“HWT Brylski” is a typeface by Nick Sherman, named for retired wood type cutter Norb Brylski, and designed to be cut as wood type at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. It incorporates several themes that were common in 19th-century type design, including split Tuscan serifs with angled mansard-style sides, heavy weight placement at the top and bottom of letters (traditionally referred to as “French” or “Italian/Italienne,” regardless of any actual relation to those countries), and an extended overall width.
Sherman explains, “Though not a strict revival of any one historical typeface, Brylski takes cues from various old-fashioned designs including Midway Ornate, Aldine Extended, Wm. H. Page & Co.’s No. 121 (a.k.a. Mansard), French Antique Extended and Hellenic Wide, among others. The digital typeface includes alternate forms of several characters plus a few arrows and stars, like all good wood type should.”
Following traditional wood type production methods, several limitations were employed in Brylski’s design process to simplify manufacturing and composition of the physical wood type. For example, in traditional fashion, all glyphs were designed with the same minimal amount of sidebearing space. At the intended size, all glyphs have widths in half-pica increments. Kerning is simplified to a minimum group of glyphs and is designed around the idea of wood blocks being sawed to interlock with each other. The design was started in 2011 and, after being fine-tuned for both wood and digital font formats, released in 2017.
Brylski joins the ranks of the HWT Legacy Project where noted designers have created new designs produced in traditional wood type, as well as digital releases, for letterpress printers and designers of all stripes. Graphic design legends Matthew Carter, Louise Fili, Marian Bantjes and Erik Spiekermann have created “Van Lanen,” “Mardell,” “Bernice” and “Artz” respectively, and now, Sherman adds “Brylski” to the series. The fonts each carry the names of residents of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, who worked at the Hamilton Manufacturing company and kept the art of wood type alive into the present day.
The digital version of Brylski along with all other HWT Legacy Project fonts are available through P22’s Hamilton Wood Type Collection. Proceeds support the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum mission of printing heritage, preservation and education, and engagement with contemporary designers.
For more information on ordering the digital font (at an introductory discount), please visit https://www.p22.com/family-Brylski.