You may’t get any extra iconic than the New York Metropolis rowhouse. Nobody understands this higher than the DUMBO-based structure and inside design agency The Brooklyn Studio. With its mission to protect treasured architectural historical past and create useful and delightful environments for contemporary life, The Brooklyn Studio describes the rowhouse as a “basic constructing block of town, the essence of New York’s architectural vernacular.”
Just lately, the agency created a customized set of taking part in playing cards in collaboration with the Historic Districts Council (HDC) and famend sort designer Tobias Frere-Jones. The Rowhouse Enjoying Card deck celebrates the sweetness and utility of those Nineteenth and early-Twentieth-century architectural gems throughout Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx.
The playing cards characteristic The Brooklyn Studio’s favourite rowhouses in numerous architectural kinds, from Flemish Renaissance to Federalist, rendered in watercolor by artist Diane Hu.
The Brooklyn Studio selected Neighborhood Gothic —particularly, an unreleased weight, Further Condensed Medium – from Frere-Jones Kind for the typography. Impressed by Nineteenth-century printing, Neighborhood Gothic’s gritty types and considerably irregular curves embody the imperfections of small jobbing presses of the time. Neighborhood Gothic was an ideal anchor for the Rowhouse deck paintings. Christopher Devine, a advisor who oversaw the design of the taking part in playing cards, mentioned. “There’s a exceptional parallel between Neighborhood Gothic and New York Metropolis rowhouses. Immediately, we are inclined to romanticize rowhouses, however their design and building had been rooted in utility. Neighborhood Gothic was created in an analogous spirit: it celebrates the abnormal, utilitarian letterforms that characterised nineteenth-century print tradition.”
“Along with philosophical and historic parallels,” Devine mentioned. “Neighborhood Gothic and Hu’s illustrations share some noteworthy aesthetic similarities. The typeface’s letterforms are characterised by barely irregular, asymmetrical outlines, which mirror the playful irreverence of Diane’s watercolors. From the day Neighborhood Gothic was launched in late 2022, I had been ready for the right alternative to specify this typeface. As quickly as Diane signed onto the taking part in card mission, it was clear that the time had come.”
With the illustrations and typeface in place, one essential design component remained. “Pairing Neighborhood Gothic with a set of crisply drawn fits could be, to paraphrase Adrian Frutiger, like carrying denims and a tailcoat, “ mentioned Devine.
So, Devine approached famend sort designer Tobias Frere-Jones to design customized fits. “Tobias grew up in Brooklyn and is one thing of a resident skilled on nineteenth-century New York Metropolis. He responded immediately, mentioned that he’d like to be concerned, and we had a name the next day. Past some common particulars, I didn’t present any particular inventive course; I trusted his instincts wholeheartedly.”
Rounding out the design is a card again that includes a delightfully asymmetrical Flemish bond sample evoking a Nineteenth-century bricklaying approach, created utilizing hyphens and en-dashes from the Neighborhood Gothic household.
A part of the proceeds from Rowhouse Enjoying Playing cards go to the HDC to assist them proceed their work advocating for New York’s historic neighborhoods. Study extra and store on The Brooklyn Studio’s web site.
Discover out extra about Frere-Jones’ 2022 launch of Neighborhood Gothic on this article on their web site by Elizabeth Goodspeed, and right here, in our Kind Tuesday characteristic from early 2023.
Christopher Devine additionally oversaw the design of The Brooklyn Studio LEGO set, that includes Brooklyn highlights such because the Carroll Avenue Bridge, Park Slope rowhouses, and Grand Military Plaza. Just like the Rowhouse Enjoying Card deck, a part of the proceeds assist HDC’s mission.
Pictures by Ethan Herrington.
