Alexandra Thornber

Senko Hanabi (線香花火 - Japanese: incense-stick fireworks) is a type of Japanese sparkler. These traditional sparklers are said to evoke “mono no aware” - “an empathy toward things”; the flash of sadness when reminded of the fleeting nature of life. I am always a bit melancholic this time of the year, so when I created this font, I wanted to give it a suitable name. Senko Hanabi was made using a brush and Chinese ink. It is a beautiful font, which comes with stylistic alternates, discretionary ligatures and a sparkling amount of diacritics. Remains for me to wish you all a very happy new year. Let’s do our best to make it one worth remembering!

Every morning, after the kids have gone to school, I vacuum the floor and remove about half a kilo of breadcrumbs… No, not really have a kilo, but any given bird could probably survive on the leftovers. When it was time to name this font, Breadcrumbs was all I could think of! Breadcrumbs and children seem to go together well, as they are featured in Hansel & Gretel and Hop-o'-My-Thumb. Breadcrumbs font is a happy, sloppy fairytale font, which you can use for your book covers, your party posters and maybe crumbly bread packaging. But that is entirely up to you.

Lately I have been experimenting with different foods. At home, we eat a lot of Asian food, but I thought it would be nice to broaden my culinary horizon a bit. So far I have (successfully) added Georgian beef and walnut soup, Tacos (after a suggestion by my friend Stuart), Surinam Roti and various vegetarian dishes to our menu. When I created this font, I had to think of Gumbo - a dish I have never made. Gumbo is a handmade display font that comes in a rotund regular and an obese bold (with Italics). Use it for your book covers, product packaging and sticky notes. Gumbo comes with cute ‘end of word’ ligatures - just type the glyph + space and presto: you have a little swash. As for the dish Gumbo, well, I will make that this weekend!

Geometris was designed by Nikolay Savchuk. Geometris is a modern versatile sans-serif typeface. What differentiates Geometris from the other fonts is an exceptionally distinctive design. Brilliantly suited for graphic design and display use and perfect for logotypes, t-shirts, packaging, brand identity, books, magazines, newspapers, posters, billboards, and advertising.

Genki Desu is one of those Japanese expressions that are used a lot and don’t really mean what you think they mean. You can use it as a greeting: O Genki Desu Ka? (お元気ですか - how are you), or to say you’re feeling fine (元気です - Genki Desu). The word Genki also means ‘energy’ or ‘vigor’. I am not an expert, in fact, there’s so much Japanese I can actually speak (shame on me), but Genki Desu is one of my favourites. Maybe just because it sounds so nice!

I have just returned from a trip to Malaysia, Java and Bali with my family: my wife had some family business there, so we turned it into a holiday. The last time I visited these places was 26 years ago and I knew things would have changed, but I wasn’t prepared for the ugly truth. Malaysia’s interior has been converted into one big oil palm plantation, Java is choked in plastic and Bali is one endless string of concrete hotels, restaurants and cheap tattoo parlours. Plastic Fantastic is not an ode to the many uses of plastic. It is a wake up call: we really need to stop using disposable plastic! You can start by implementing the Plastic Fantastic font family in your durable water bottle designs, the compostable bag holding your organic potato crisps or that big ole sign advertising your local food truck event. Or whatever it is you want to create. ;-)

Poppin is a playful font-type that you can comfortably use in all kinds of styles, from modern to old school. A combination of a few names on an old movie poster is what triggered the creation of this font type. Because it had such a strong rock and roll character, I decided to dedicate a font-type to it. The Poppin font is completely hand-drawn and then digitized. It results in being an extremely user-friendly, complete and modern font that you can use in all your graphic applications. Poppin is a font from the subculture that has been updated to a hip and classy font, ideal for eye-catching designs. Poppin comes in 4 styles, regular, bold , round & bold round. Poppin makes everyone smile!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pack of Instant Harmony in your cupboard? Just add water and *poof* - all strive and struggle have gone, having been replaced by peace and quiet. The grass seems greener, the sky bluer and the air smells like a fresh mowed lawn. Ahhhh! Zap! Back to reality. There is no instant harmony, don’t go looking for it in your local supermarket! If you want a taste of something resembling instant harmony, then add this super-duper font family to your collection and use it for your designs. You may find that your creativity levels are up, your morning coffee tastes better and your designs look exactly like you had in mind. Pinky promise!

We’re in the process of buying a house. Our first bid was rejected, our second bid as well. Our third (and final) bid was accepted (yay!), so, for us, the old ‘third time lucky’ quote rings true! Third Time Lucky is a set of three distinct handmade fonts, each with its own italic. Use this wonderful set for your books, your packaging or even your ‘house for sale’ signs.

My 7 year old son is reading a book called ‘Spees De Ruimtewees’ (Spees, the Galactic Orphan), so when I needed a name for this font family, I didn’t have to think a lot! Flying Saucer is a family of 2 fonts: a rough(ish) sans serif and a script font. Both fonts come with Italics. Use Flying Saucer for anything space related (or whatever you feel like using it for).

Hjem, in Danish, means ‘at home’ or ‘home’. I made this font ‘hjem’, so I thought the name was quite appropriate! Hjem is a rounded, handmade display font that comes with extensive language support and cute swashes. Use this versatile font for your packaging designs, book covers, party posters or whatever you want. I am sure this font will feel right hjem!

Spring is in the air! At least, where I live. My two pear trees are in bloom, bees are buzzing and everything turns a brighter shade of green. Time for a new and fresh font package with a spring-inspired name! Springwood is a handmade set of fonts, ranging from a fat display font to a messy script font. Use it for your freshest ideas, your coolest designs or just anything that needs a bit of springtime.