Atelier Jérôme Knebusch
Mainzer Landstraße 105
60329 Frankfurt am Main
jk [at] jeromeknebusch.net
+49 69 15 61 60 23

La fin du monde [The end of the world] resembles a thistle or a holly branch. During his residency at the Ergastule studios in Nancy, France, Jérôme Knebusch created twelve in a limited edition. All look similar, but none are identical. They were vector drawn, laser cut in brass, manually folded and oxidized in vinegar steam. Six are exclusively available at Poem, six others at Ergastule. The thistle photograph by Emile Gallé is from the École de Nancy archives.

Title
La fin du monde
Date
2022
Type
Artworks
Client
Ergastule
Place
Nancy
Material
Brass, vinegar oxidized
Edition
Ergastule
Edition
Poem

La fin du monde (2209C47A to L), brass, vinegar oxidized, c. 30 × 5 × 5 cm, 2022. Édition Ergastule, 12 unique + 12 AP

Conference given at ISType Mono series, Istanbul, in 2014. Instant is an anachronic type family going from thin, quick handwritten letters to stable, black typographic shapes. Each of the five styles correspond to a singular design related to a specific stroke speed and weight: Vivid, Quick, Regular, Slow, Heavy. Hommage to the poet, painter and writer Henri Michaux (1899 – 1984), it questions fundamental differences between handwriting and typography, type family consistency and the relation and usage of roman, bold and cursive faces. More informations on Instant here. Video link below.

Title
Instant: from handwriting to type design
Date
2014
Type
Research
Client
ISType
Place
Istanbul
Material
Conference
Video
IStype Mono 2014

Instant: from handwriting to type design, conference, ISType Mono, Istanbul, 2014.

Brave New World Order catalogue, exhibition held 2021 at Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain. The exhibition was entirely photographed so that the catalogue resembles a guided tour. Shorter, white info sheets come next to the photographs to identify the artworks. Three bookmarks permit multiple entries and reflect the black identity lines. The dust jacket once unfolded presents the exhibition poster. The books uses the custom design of a typefaces in two styles. More information on the project on its dedicated website, also designed (link below).

Title
Triennale Jeune Création
Date
2021
Type
Editorial design
Client
Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg
Place
Luxembourg City
Material
Catalogue
Publisher
Rotondes, Luxembourg & Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
Editors
Kevin Muhlen, Marc Scozzai
Translation
Patrick Kremer
Photography
Andrés Lejona
Format
20x30 cm
Papers
Fedrigoni Arena Extra-White Smooth, Sirio Black, Bruno & Perla, Symbol Freelife Matt Plus
Pages
292
Printing
Cassochrome, Waregem
Binding
Soft cover, dust jacket, perfect binding
Website
bravenewworldorder.lu
Copies
700
ISBN
978−2−919790−20−3

Brave New World Order, Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, 2021.

Until the advent of talking pictures, cinema had been referred to as silent. To compensate for the absence of sound, films were punctuated by numerous ‘intertitles’ containing a fixed text, interspersed among the sequences of moving images. Intertitles could be hand-painted on thick paper or glass plates, using brushes or round-tipped nibs, by teams of letterers capable of producing up to 100 cards a day. Yet today we know almost nothing about these technically gifted craftsmen. However, at the end of the 1910s, in the United States, the name of a technician occasionally appeared in the film credits: that of Victor Vance, a letterer associated with the Warner Bros. studio. His distinctive style of lettering, constant over the years, was based on a virtuosic use of the brush. Considered a ‘title-artist’, he also wrote in 1930 an article on how to paint intertitles. This account sheds valuable and precise light on the methods used to produce intertitles and the way these objects were viewed at the time. Written by Julien Van Anholt and edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Victor Vance, title-artist
Date
2025
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publisher
Poem

Victor Vance, title-artist, Julien Van Anholt, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2025.

Europa String Quartet, Marienkirche, Berlin, 2009.

Poster of the Hubba Bubba collage by Jérôme Knebusch (2010, from the Biography series) greatly enlarged and screenprinted by renowned printer Lézard Graphique, Brumath (F). At the occasion of the Aux petits bonheurs poster exhibition in Crest (F), 2020. Limited edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered. The unsigned copies were pasted in the streets of Crest.

Title
Hubba Bubba
Date
2020
Type
Artworks
Client
Centre d'Art de Crest
Place
Crest
Material
Poster, collage
Limited edition
Poem
Screenprint
Lézard Graphique, Brumath

Hubba Bubba, Centre d'Art de Crest, 2020. Published by Poem.

Almost is a typeface between gothic and roman. It was designed by Jérôme Knebusch in five weights and many alternates. They can be endlessly combined, taking either a roman or gothic direction, without falling in a strong, broken script nor becoming a ‘pure’ roman design. Above, uncialesque and bizarre (Byzantine) letterforms and a full set of initials complete the fonts. All take their inspiration in the 15th century, specifically in the period of 1459-1482 with Gotico-Antiqua typefaces like the ‘Durandus’ of Fust & Schöffer, the first type to present a humanistic tendency. A few years later Sweynheim & Pannartz use a type in Subiaco which some consider to be the first roman although gothic influences remain clearly visible. Roman type was finally defined in 1469-70 in Venice by the ‘de Spira’ brothers and Nicolas Jenson. But roman did not precipitate the death of gothic forms, mixtures of gothic and roman were tried out and the two co-existed for some time. Almost is a hommage to these types, which represent a unique, transitory moment in history of typography. More information about Almost on Poem's website.

Title
Almost Italic
Date
2021
Type
Type design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Retail typeface
Conference
Gotico-Antiqua symposium, Nancy 2019
Award
Type Directors Club 2020
Award
Typographica 2019
Publication
Poem

Almost Italic, typeface, 2021. Published by Poem.

In 2011, students of ESAL Metz started within a workshop with Argentinian type designer Alejandro Lo Celso and their teacher Jérôme Knebusch a specific design for their school. Looking for a bookish typeface tending to modern forms, the students found interesting references in the work of Baskerville and Didot, precisely: exactly inbetween. The type grew during the following years, each time in intensive workshop sessions, to a complete type family named Messine, covering text, display, poster, italic, bold, sans and serif versions. Today, Messine is the official and exclusive typeface of the school, used all over its documents.

Title
Messine
Date
2011–2019
Type
Education, Type design
Client
École Supérieure d'Art de Lorraine
Place
Metz
Material
Workshop programme, custom typeface
Interview
Graphisme en France
Conference
Mets, Messins, Messine, Let's Type symposium, Metz 2013
Conference
Baskerville in France symposium, Amiens 2018
Award
Fine Press Book Association 2013
Award
Ampersand Exhibition 2013

Messine, workshop programme, custom typeface, w/ PampaType, ESAL Metz, 2011-2019.

Triennals, prefiguration event of the Luxembourg young contemporary art triennale, with former triennale participants. Custom single-typeface and 'ongoing' visual identity which will evolve in the Brave New World Order identity of the triennale held one year later. See this website for more.

Title
Triennials
Date
2020
Type
Visual identity, Editorial design
Client
Rotondes, Casino Luxembourg
Place
Luxembourg City
Material
Pamphlet, animations

Triennials, visual identity & custom typeface, Rotondes, Cercle Cité, Casino Luxembourg, 2020.

Drawing Time / Le temps du dessin, Musée des Beaux-Arts & galeries Poirel, Nancy, 2010.

Decode Old Arabian [North & South], custom typeface, Hochschule Mainz, 2016. decodeunicode.org

Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel's remarkable Blumenbuch [Book of Flowers] was published between 1929 and 1942, from precious volumes and portfolios to pocket editions, involving numerous collaborators, printers and publishers such as Mainzer Presse in Mainz, Ernst-Ludwig-Presse in Darmstadt and Insel-Verlag, Leipzig. The Insel paperback edition continued to be printed throughout the 20th century. Koch began drawing wild flowers in 1922. He explains that he 'collected [the flowers] at random and without any particular purpose. I only drew those that grew in Offenbach and the surrounding area...'. A member of Koch's Werkstatt, the young Kredel, engraved most of the 250 drawings. The flowers were engraved on wood and coloured entirely by hand. The entire project - the various editions, sketchbooks, printing tests and original woodcuts - constitutes an exceptional archive that was exhibited for the first time in France, at the Modulab gallery in Metz The exhibition curated by Jérôme Knebusch is a joint venture between the Klingspor Museum, Poem, Modulab and the École nationale d'art et de design de Nancy.

Title
Das Blumenbuch
Date
2023
Type
Research
Client
Modulab
Place
Metz
Material
Exhibition
Curator
Jérôme Knebusch
Archive
Klingspor Museum
Conference
ANRT 2020
Photography
Benjamin Roi

Das Blumenbuch, Modulab, Metz, 4.5 – 17.6.2023. Klingspor Museum Archive.

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