Jordan Davies

Jordan Davies attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a Masters Degree in Fine Art. In 1968 he moved to New York City where he worked for a living in a bookstore while pursuing his painting career.

In 1971 he received a National Endowment for the Arts award in visual arts. He continued to work in the book business and, after buying a Vandercook proofing press, began to print and publish books of poetry. It was during the process of printing and setting type by hand that he discovered for the first time what type really is, what a type font is, whether it is metal or digital. The magical process of printing from metal type forces the printer to examine the nuances of both printing and type design.

Later he gave up painting for a long period of time (about 30 years) and devoted himself to printing and graphic design. During this time he purchased a copy of Fontographer and type design and re-creation became a passion. Many years later the fascination of type design is still with him and he continues to use Fontographer as well as TypeTool and Font Lab Studio in the creation or re-creation of type fonts.

He has recently taken up painting again. While he showed his work in galleries in Chicago and New York during the 60s and 70s it is only now that he has begun to work again. He continues to design type while also painting.

Jordan offers fonts through his foundry Wooden Type Fonts.

Jordan Davies attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a Masters Degree in Fine Art. In 1968 he moved to New York City where he worked for a living in a bookstore while pursuing his painting career.