Overview
Joseph Churchward’s design inspiration comes from the Roman alphabet, his family and cultural heritage, his home country of Samoa, and his life in New Zealand.
To create a new typeface, he first makes a detailed pencil sketch to measure the size, shape, and impact of each letter. Next, he retraces an enlarged image of the letters onto A3 size cardboard. Each letter is then inked in and perfected. The whole process takes between 150 and 300 hours.
Before digital technology, the finished ink designs were photographed and the print negatives distributed to printers for use in the printing process.