Architype Catalogue originates from lettering by Wim Crouwel on a Stedelijk Museum exhibition catalog for sculptor Claes Oldenburg, 1970. Turned into a digital font by The Foundry as part of the Architype Crouwel collection. Comes in Soft Solid and Soft Outline styles.

“I first did just the name, then later the whole alphabet. I drew the name on the basis of his work – those soft objects. In relief, on the cover, there are also the letters ‘sm’, for the Stedelijk Museum. The ‘s’ was already in Oldenburg’s name, so I later made the ‘m’ and had it embossed on the cover, as a reference to the sculptures. When the catalogue was finished and Claes saw it, he asked me if I would do the whole alphabet for him, so I did. I cut it all out in pink paper and pasted it together. Then he sent me a lovely drawing, of his ice-cream alphabet, with the dripping letters. The letters are based on a very simple pattern. You can see it here. There are three units in height and three wide, five together for the ‘m’. The rest are three by three, with one more on the top and one below for the ascenders and descenders, so there are five units in all for the full letter height. In addition, I intentionally made the inside corners with round arches, so you’d get that padded look that is in his work. The insides of the letters are shaped look like it has created those plush indentations. When you look at an Oldenburg catalogue, with all those soft objects, it gets in your system, so you try to integrate that into the work. The way Oldenburg responded was nice.” — Wim Crouwel in Crouwel Alphabets, Bis Publishers, 2003