Welcome! A Practice for Everyday Life launches APFEL, the type foundry
Established at the forefront of graphic design for the arts and cultural sector back in 2003 by Kirsty Carter and Emma Thomas, London-based “A Practice for Everyday Life” studio has built a reputation as an internationally renowned and sought-after collaborator with like-minded companies, galleries, institutions and individuals. Now the studio expands its presence in the digital realm with the launch of its own type foundry, APFEL.
As noted APFEL Type Foundry “publishes a growing library of typefaces developed through visual, textual and experiential research. The Foundry also offers a bespoke type design service, through which the studio accepts commissions for typeface design, logotype design and custom cuts of APFEL typefaces for context-specific use.”
“Type design has been central to APFEL’s practice since its inception, and manifests within the full breadth of the studio’s output, from visual identities to publications, exhibitions and digital venues” reads the official statement.
“This approach is underpinned by an understanding of how bespoke type design can contribute uniquely communicative layers of meaning within a project, as references from everyday research are recontextualised, developed and incorporated to become integral within a design.”
As noted, the foundry is “developed as a means of evolving this practice and continuing the team’s typographic investigations, which begin both in the context of commissioned projects and within self-initiated research.”
To mark the launch of APFEL Type Foundry that features four retail typefaces – Certeau, Periferia, Remnants and Lining– alongside a bespoke type design service, the team published “Type as Readymade.”
The printed publication features an essay authored by the studio that “explores the notion of type as a form of readymade – investigating the implications of the relationship between research, visual reference, the cultural concept of the everyday, and type design in context.”
The publication also functions as a specimen of APFEL Type Foundry’s first four retail typefaces.
Alongside the launch of its type foundry, the studio also launched a new website that incorporates its portfolio, foundry and shop.
The new site showcases commissions and collaborations the team completed in recent months, and incorporates a comprehensive archive of APFEL projects.
Explore more here.
Tags/ type design, typefaces, publication, type foundry, specimen, kirsty carter, emma thomas, a practice for everyday life