ACME

Started in 1996, by Christian Küsters, Acme Fonts is a London-based foundry, offering fonts by Küsters and 15 other designers: Anthony Burrill, Gérard Paris-Clavel & Johannes Bergerhausen, Jean-Lou Désiré, Paul Farrington, Robert Green, Paul Kehra, Henrik Kubel, Simon Piehl, Alex Rich, Carsten Schwesig, Sandy Suffield, Dirk Wachowiak, Anne Wehebrink and Paul Wilson. Küsters believes that type, as a medium, 'can be pushed beyond its hitherto accepted role - can be consciously loaded with cultural signifiers which might then run in visual parallel with verbal content; a type as commentary'. The name of the foundry itself developed out of this preoccupation with the subtle mechanisms of language. Acme literally means highest point of perfection, and is in complete contrast to its universal use to signify the opposite through a thousand-and-one Acme Laundry vans and the like. Typical of Acme's 'project-based' approach design is AF Metropolis, an experimental 3D font, designed by Küsters and Paul Beavis. Others include AF Carplates by Sandy Suffield and Christian Küsters, and AF Generation by Dirk Wachowiak.