Malee, who’s of Thai, Spanish and Native American descent, had studied Spanish at a summer program there. After about six months there, they moved to Spain, first to Granada and eventually to Madrid. In 2015, the two cofounded Sharp Type in their New York City apartment. I could explore the beauty of that without having to be pulled into a teacher’s or a client’s expectations-a niche within this larger world.” -Lucas Sharp Type design returned me to working with raw counterforms, negative and positive space, and playing with form. I think we both realized what we brought to the table. “But it was a big leap of faith for both of us,” she says, “because living together is already a when you’re young-and then deciding to run a business out of your one-bedroom apartment?”īoth Sharp and Malee laugh, and then she resumes: “But really, it evolved very quickly into something serious. On the other side, Malee was looking for an opportunity to begin a business of her own. He had been building up a library of fonts and was looking for a partner who would take on the responsibilities of project and foundry management. It was when Malee and Sharp had moved in together and several years had passed when Sharp came up with a business proposal. He would eventually intern at Darden Studio and then continue to work as a freelance type designer there. “Joshua was a window into the world of type design, and I just soaked it up,” Sharp recalls. “Also, just like everything in life,” he continues, “I had a really good teacher.” Joshua Darden, founder of New York–based foundry Darden Studio, mentored Sharp in type design while teaching as an adjunct professor at Parsons. I could explore the beauty of that without having to be pulled into a teacher’s or a client’s expectations-a niche within this larger world. “Type design returned me to working with raw counterforms, negative and positive space, and playing with form. ![]() ![]() “I’d always been a student of form,” he says. “That economic impetus pushed me toward commercial arts with the idea to not take on some student debt.” However, Sharp’s studies left him wanting a more fundamentally creative practice. “I came from a fine arts background, but both of my parents were kind of starving-artist types,” he explains. Growing up in a very entrepreneurial family, my end goal was to be an entrepreneur.” Upon graduating, Malee scored her first job as a project manager at Love & War, a boutique branding agency in New York City, and eventually became a senior project manager.Īt the same time, Sharp attended Parsons for the communication design program. “You basically take a lot of graphic design and design theory classes as well as standard business courses. “It was kind of what it sounds like,” she explains. Partners in life as well as in business, the two met at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where Malee received a bachelor’s in business from the university’s design and management program. They also travel back to Newport, Rhode Island, where Malee grew up, to be near her family. Currently, the cofounders live most of the time in Marin, California, where they’re closer to Sharp’s family. With no concrete physical location as of this interview-Malee and Sharp opened a New York City office months before the COVID-19 pandemic and have since closed it-the foundry comprises a full-time team of seven across multiple time zones. I’m tempted to describe Sharp Type as a collective more than a traditional foundry. Chantra Malee, chief executive officer and cofounder,Īnd Lucas Sharp, type director and cofounder. Chantra Malee Montoya-Pimolwatana and Lucas Sharp, cofounders of Sharp Type, know this all too well, which is why with their business ethos and The Malee Scholarship-their nonprofit that supports female type designers from underrepresented ethnic groups in the industry-they’re introducing more designers to the world of typography and helping them hurdle the discipline’s barriers to entry. ![]() To pursue typography as a practice, designers must first overcome multiple barriers, including money, tools and education.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |