SOOF TYPECRAFT
My Role:
Creative Strategy
Research
Type Design
Soof Embroidery Typefaces are a stunning representation of the traditional handcrafted embroidery of Mundra, Kutch, Gujarat, India. The two typefaces, Soof "Serif" and Soof "Sans-serif", beautifully capture the intricate and exquisite details of the Soof embroidery. Inspired by the original motifs of the embroidery, these typefaces bring a touch of heritage and culture to any design project. Whether you're creating a logo, poster, or website, Soof Embroidery Typefaces will add a unique and authentic flair to your work. Celebrate the beauty of the handmade with these one-of-a-kind typefaces, perfect for any folk craft based type design project.
2019
w/ Ishan Khosla Design
Type design workshop by Anand Singh Naorem, co-founder & creative director of Brand New Type, New Delhi.
Identifying letters from the Soof embroidery motifs.
We worked with an array of letter design that we thought could be embroidered by the artisans. Our goal to create letters from before hand was to explore the relation between the latin letters and the motifs to incorporate the essence of the embroidery as well as make the letters legible.
The designs are formed with tessellated triangles called soof (suf). It is a counted thread embroidery with no outlines and drawings done on a white fabric to guide the craftswoman.
Soof requires fabric that has a basket weave—the warp and weft have to be the same count. Patterns are created by counting the warp and weft threads that are used as the base grid. The embroidery is rendered on a horizontal and vertical grid. However, the most daring innovation was creating complex compositions on diagonal grids. This is why when making letters, the diagonals such as the K, X, R etc., are the most complex and difficult to make.
Manisha Ben
Hetal Ben
Varsha Ben
Ramila Ben
The typeface is called 'Soof Rangeela' and has developed
into a functional typeface by the team at The Typecraft Initiative.
It is available for purchase here.
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