Gerben Dollen studied graphic design in Groningen, the Netherlands. During a study exchange at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco he became interested in typeface design whilst attending
Max Kisman's FontLab class. Dollen specialized this practice at the University of Reading, England, where he completed an MA in Typeface Design in 2007.
Today he works from his studio
Type Mafia in Amsterdam, finding a fifty-fifty balance doing both graphic and typeface design. Dollen is currently debuting with his typeface family Actium for which he specially invented Smart Capo™.