Font for Forest Grief

While recently researching forest-inspired typefaces, we came across Alexandra Crouwers and her font IPS Typographus, whose letters are inspired by the wood tracings of the bark beetle (typographus in Latin, letterzetter in Dutch). What we first assumed to be a homage to the insect and its ornamental patterns turned out to be something far more complex: part of a grieving process, in which the beetle takes on the role of antagonist.

Alexandra Crouwers (b. 1974, The Netherlands) is a visual artist and artistic researcher. When her family-owned forest fell victim to a climate-driven bark beetle infestation, she used the event as a case study for her doctoral research project, Summoning a Forest (2019 – 2025).

Drawing on knowledge from fields such as cognitive science, media and cultural studies, and science fiction, the project examined the emotional dimensions of ecological collapse, the mediating role of digital tools, and the potential of speculative and mythological frameworks to reimagine human relationships with non-human entities and ecosystems.

The custom-made typeface was developed in collaboration with JOEBOB graphics (Jeroen van der Ham & Geert Dijkers).