Made up of sixteen individual weights and spread over three different optical sizes, Essonnes is designed to bring utility back to the Didot genre. It’s a common belief among designers that Didones don’t work for text. This wasn’t true in 1819 and it isn’t true today. Like its forbearers, Essonnes is a truly optical family—not just a study in adjusting contrast. The text and display weights have been designed from the ground up for their intended roles. This means that everything from the height of the uppercase & lowercase letters have been specifically tuned for their intended purpose. Like many typefaces, Essonnes started after falling in love with a piece of history. In this case, it was the eccentric forms of Pierre Didot’s Type and the evolution of the High contrast Didone throughout the 19th century. It was out of curiosity and love for these forms that led to the first draft of what would become Essonnes back in 2011. These unique situations—screens, modern printing methods, the previous 200 years of typographic innovation since the original design, my own life experiences—have led to a typeface that, while based on history, is not stuck in it.

Porkshop is a font of retro vintage flavor with a hefty dose of immigrant-influenced naive typography. It's fundamentally inspired by an old-but-still-prominent "Pork Shop" sign in Manhattan. I like to think that this font was made by a signmaker's apprentice who didn't yet have a grasp on the subtleties of elegant letterforms, but put his gusto into perfectly sharp serifs. While pointy little serifs are cool, the real shine of this font comes from the imaginative combination of uppercase and lowercase shapes. This unique mixture in the lowercase reminds me of an indeterminate European accent in the big city. Big and strong and easy to understand. Best rendered in 3-foot tall metal type, Porkshop works well in print and on screens, too. The Bolds and Italics are brand new in 2011.

Bubble Gum is a juicy multi-dimensional gob of goodness that’s bursting at the seams with loads of alphabetic appeal. Its well-padded figure transforms the ample letterforms found in classic comic strip word balloons into a warm and casual display font with a little extra kick. Cooked up by Dave West for Photo-Lettering, Inc. between the late 1960s and early 70s, Bubble Gum was finally digitized by Jess Collins in 2011. Please note that the shaded version of the typeface is composed by layering the Regular font and a separate Drop Shadow font. Some assembly required. Like all good subversives, House Industries hides in plain sight while amplifying the look, feel and style of the world’s most interesting brands, products and people. Based in Delaware, visually influencing the world. Featured in: Best Fonts for Logos