Who are the rising stars of the type world?

Nadine Chahine

Hello all!
I'm working on the program for the Font Business 2025 conference that we're organising in June and we will have 3 panels about the future of fonts. One of them will be specifically dedicated to speakers under 35 so that we can give space to the future leaders of our industry. So, here is the question:

Who would you nominate as a rising star in the type world? This isn't purely a question of design/coding abilities but of vision and leadership as well. Who is most likely to shape the future?

Matthew Smith

Admittedly, I don’t tend to know how old people are, but these are folks I would consider up-and-coming or have recently ventured off on their own:

Rutherford Craze of Mass-Driver
I’ve just always enjoyed Rutherford’s approach to drawing, and he has only ever been honest and transparent with me in our conversations. I think I remember him saying at one point that the thesis of sorts behind Mass-Driver is “new takes on old ideas” or something of that effect. I regularly make use of his workshop as well.

Flavia Zimbardi
I really admire her Women in Type initiative, and the work she is producing is lively, fresh, diverse, and—most of all—good. Flavia is also constantly making efforts to share her knowledge, and build community. I also think Flavia was the first type designer I saw offering a Discounts for Customers from Less Advanced Economies.

Stephen Nixon of Arrow Type

Not only am I fan of Stephen’s work, but I am also a huge fan of his advocacy for type design as an artistic and technical practice. He has shared a lot of behind the scenes and tutorials on his YouTube channel, and regularly shares code and documents issues/ideas on Github.

Thy Hà of Mai Type and Counter Forms
Honestly everyone at Counter Forms is doing interesting work, but I highlight Thy in particular because of her efforts to help foundries support Vietnamese and as she puts it “bridging cultural gaps in a Western-centric industry.” And don’t quote me on this, but I think she also helped found Lưu Chữ, a Vietnamese typography collective, showcasing an online archive and typography work.

I would also look at My-Lan Thuong and Calvin Kwok both of which are at Sharp Type. Also Rosalie Wagner.

If I am feeling vain I might also suggest myself lol 🙈

Paul Hanslow

Nadine, I could mention many rising star type designers who create inspiring work, but knowing if they possess leadership abilities is another question entirely. Type design is often a solitary endeavour (ie. designing independently and solving problems as they arise). What I'm trying to express here is there's multiple established type designers with inspiring work who lack leadership qualities. By leadership I'm specifically referring to: guidance of others, strong communication abilities, the ability to explain the why and not only the what of their decisions. 
 
Secondly, the playing field of type design has expanded greatly in the last 20, even 10 years. The techniques utilised by today's successful independent foundries, of when they were up-and-comers, are often not applicable to newcomers wishing to establish themselves in the contemporary type design scene. My personal take is most newcomers are scrambling to get a foot-hold in our industry, trying to hitch their wagon to established foundries to get a leg up on their peers. 

With that being said, I'd nominate the following designers as 'leaders', thought some may be over 35 years old:

• Type Mates, specifically Jakob Runge & Nils Thomsen. Their ability to establish a foundry and reacquire their typefaces from distributors has been inspirational. They continue to expand their catalogue and develop their business.
• Philipp Neumeyer for his type work alone. 
• Kristyan Sarkis for his Arabic work and personally driven projects.
• The Contrast Foundry crew. They've done well to establish their business/foundry using tactics that differ from what is typical with foundry promotion. 

There are many many more, but these are the 'leaders' who stick out in my mind.

Nadine Chahine

Thank you, Paul! I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment!

If anyone else has other suggestions please add them! 

Peter Constable

"future leaders of our industry" is very broad as the type industry has multiple facets that require distinct skills, expertise or experience. Do you want leaders in...
- Design?
- Typography?
- Business and marketing?
- IP law?
- Technology?
- Education?
- ...

John Butler

I don’t know how old Dave Lawrence of California Type Foundry is, but I’ve been impressed by his output for the past several years and have bought a license for his Bodoni Casale. His FontLab tutorial videos have helped me get back into type recently.

Nadine Chahine

Peter Constable said:

"future leaders of our industry" is very broad as the type industry has multiple facets that require distinct skills, expertise or experience. Do you want leaders in...
- Design?
- Typography?
- Business and marketing?
- IP law?
- Technology?
- Education?
- ...

The conference is dedicated fully to Font Business so I would say mostly for business leadership while maintaining high qualities of design/technical output.

Nadine Chahine

John Butler said:

I don’t know how old Dave Lawrence of California Type Foundry is, but I’ve been impressed by his output for the past several years and have bought a license for his Bodoni Casale. His FontLab tutorial videos have helped me get back into type recently.

Very helpful thank you!

James Montalbano

It might be interesting to also list the "Setting Suns" of the type world as well. If anyone is compling a list. Put me on it!

Moritz Kleinsorge

Rutherford Craze, https://mass-driver.com/

Nadine Chahine

Thanks, Moritz! James, the sun will never set on Clearview

Igor Petrovic

Right off the bat: https://groteskly.xyz/typefaces

Moritz Kleinsorge

I suggest @Matthew Smith

harborb

imma hop on with Matthew Smith in asking if it is too vain to suggest myself. I have only been in the type game for like 6 years now so I am still quite new. I run the type foundry that that type.
https://www.thatthattype.com/

My work on that foundry reflects the quality of the past six years. some of it is good a lot of it is not. haha but moving forward I am confident I am here to stay. I have managed to make a great living as a type designer and while I have put in my 10,000 of actually type design I still think it will take years for my technical skills to fully develop. I feel I have a lot to say about how I have been able to manage the business side of it and love sharing that with others. I make a great living and spend 90% of my time designing letters all day. you can check out some of my content on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ExtraCreditDesignClub/videos

again I am still relatively new to the type design industry and know there are many more type designers who are technically better than me but I am dedicated to the craft and will be sticking around. oh, and I'm 32. 

AbiRasheed

https://ohnotype.co/ comes to mind.

Craig Eliason

Of the eight awards for Latin type design chosen at this spring’s Morisawa competition, three of them went to one designer, Naiqian Wang of China (gold, bronze, and honorable mention). I don’t know anything else about that designer, but I’d say that’s good evidence of a rising star. 

Paul Hanslow

I would also look at My-Lan Thuong and Calvin Kwok both of which are at Sharp Type. Also Rosalie Wagner.

I'd also recommend My-Lan Thuong as her work stands out what's typically created by younger type designers. Plus she's a lovely person from the little I've spoken with her.