Typeface designed by a tree
In 2015, designer Bjørn Karmann started carving Helvetica letters in a beech tree in his parents’ forest. Every year, he carefully documented how the characters changed as the tree grew. An interesting coincidence is that the growth and expansion of the tree happen sideways, similar to how typefaces ‘grow’ into bolder weights. It led to Occlusion Grotesque—an experimental typeface with unique deformed letters shaped by nature.
With Deep Occlusion, a continuation of the project, the designer then tried to replicate the process by introducing an AI to the process. Whereas repeating the process with another font and tree would take several years, the AI could learn how the tree grows, simulate its patterns, and generate synthesized images. Check out Bjørn’s website for more information and to download the fonts for free.
bjoernkarmann.dk