KOOL. A Type Specimen is an artist’s book built around KOOL (“cabbage” in Dutch), a new font designed by Magali Reus, winner of the seventh edition of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Prize for Sculpture. Midway between a plant alphabet and concrete poetry, the KOOL font is created in collaboration with Antonio de la Hera and Kia Tasbihgou and includes twenty-six lowercase letters, twenty-six uppercase letters, a complete set of numbers, sixteen punctuation marks, and six symbols.

The project is the upshot of a three-year research project focused on the visual and calligraphic relationship between scraps of red cabbage and letters of the Roman alphabet. The volume is inspired by the traditional format of the type specimen book, or type foundry sample book, used to show clients the myriad graphic possibilities, layouts, and configurations unique to a new typeface.

The book features texts by design writer Emily King and Rebecca May Johnson, a food specialist, and was created in conjunction with Off Script: a solo exhibition by Reus staged by the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation in collaboration with the Museo del Novecento in Milan.

Book Design and Production by Wolfe Hall, London

2024 Softcover Publisher: Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro and Lenz Press, Milan ISBN: 979-12-80579-51-5 Dimensions: 16 x 28 cm Pages: 48pp

Out of stock

Font available to download here