Jessica Walsh launches type foundry, calling it a “passion project”

For the past five years, Jessica Walsh and her team have been working away at a momentous project, Type of Feeling: a new retail and boutique foundry that’s centred on fonts that evoke feeling. “At the core of Type of Feeling is the belief that typography has the power to communicate so much more than the words on the page,” says Jessica.

Fonts across the new catalogue draw on a whole range of feelings, from those you know well, to some slightly more unique and hard to describe. On the foundry’s website, you’ll find that the designs are presented with the feelings they aim to conjure. The bold and buoyant Jubel, for example, is based on ‘joyful celebration’. “The thick strokes and lively curves excuse excitement, the ‘e’ almost smiles at you, reflecting the jubilant mood and celebrative feeling of the word,” says Jessica. Whereas Ssonder, a sleek and elegant serif design is drawn from a more complex feeling – “the realisation that each person you see, each person you pass, and each person that exists has their own complex and distinct life”.

Jessica says the foundry is more of a “passion project than a business venture”. Despite a large team working on the project for over five years (which includes Lauren Walsh on strategy, Elinor O’Brien and Lucas Luz on art direction, and Sanchit Sawaria on design), Jessica says she’ll be surprised if they see any profits. “The fonts are quite purposefully niche and distinct in order to allow for ownability and uniqueness to come through, but that probably means they won’t be a cash cow like some popular generic typefaces are,” she says.

This stems from Jessica’s previous experience; when working with brands in the past, she’s always encouraged them to explore custom type design, aware of the emotion and individuality it can bring. Though, it’s not something that’s always been that accessible or feasible, especially for smaller companies. This is why Jessica says prices have been kept “reasonable”, and the team are happy to work on prices for select non-profit organisations if its current cost is out of range. The primary goal, Jessica outlines, is to simply sell enough to keep making typefaces.

The road to Type of Feeling has been longer than expected – “I’m talking four years longer,” says Jessica. However, this has meant that the team has had the chance to work with a large group of designers, producers, developers and creatives. What’s more, the lengthy time span has allowed for a less formal ideation process, with ideas and avenues changing over time. Now, they plan to operate something of an open-door policy: “We are always looking for new designers to collaborate with and to bring new perspectives to this project.” Feel free to drop the team a line at [email protected].