Oz Handicraft
Oz Handicraft BT: an unusually narrow script font, now expanded into a family
Inspired by an unpublished manuscript from the great font designer Oswald Bruce Cooper (Cooper Black™), George Ryan designed the first version of Oz Handicraft™ BT at the end of the 1980s. The narrow but legible sans serif with a handwritten flair is now available in an expanded version with eight styles. The typeface is ideal for text, for example, as well as packaging design or posters.
Ryan discovered the pattern for a remarkable, hand-designed sans serif in “The Book of Oz Cooper,” an homage published after Cooper’s death. During his life, Cooper had only ever published serif fonts. Ryan decided to design a digital version of the slim and narrow draft. He published the new font in 1989 as Oz Handicraft BT. Ryan expanded the font into a complete family in 2016.
The letters, derived from the Antiqua, are very narrow, but their considerable x-height makes them perfectly legible, even in smaller font sizes. The somewhat irregular shapes take on the character of a font drawn by hand with a felt-tip pen. The features that provide for flair in Oz Handicraft BT in the larger sizes make for a loose and lively feel in the smaller sizes.
After the recent expansion, Oz Handicraft BT is now available in four weights, Light, Regular, Semibold and Bold. Each weight also includes a wide version in which the character width (although still condensed) is much wider.
The character options are unusually good for a script font. Apart from various number sets, ligatures and some alternative characters, the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets are also included.
The well-equipped and significantly expanded Oz Handicraft BT has flexible and diverse potential for use. Use these easily legible characters to add a personal touch to your designs. Oz Handicraft BT is also ideal for children’s books or comics. The unique, lively character of the font works particularly well in the larger sizes (on posters or packaging designs, for example).
The letters, derived from the Antiqua, are very narrow, but their considerable x-height makes them perfectly legible, even in smaller font sizes. The somewhat irregular shapes take on the character of a font drawn by hand with a felt-tip pen. The features that provide for flair in Oz Handicraft BT in the larger sizes make for a loose and lively feel in the smaller sizes.
After the recent expansion, Oz Handicraft BT is now available in four weights, Light, Regular, Semibold and Bold. Each weight also includes a wide version in which the character width (although still condensed) is much wider.
The character options are unusually good for a script font. Apart from various number sets, ligatures and some alternative characters, the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets are also included.
The well-equipped and significantly expanded Oz Handicraft BT has flexible and diverse potential for use. Use these easily legible characters to add a personal touch to your designs. Oz Handicraft BT is also ideal for children’s books or comics. The unique, lively character of the font works particularly well in the larger sizes (on posters or packaging designs, for example).