See more objects with the tag graphic design, black and white, typography, digital print, fonts, typographers, text as image, transformative.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2014

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2025

  • You found it!

Specimen, Maelstrom typeface

This is a Specimen. It was designed by Kris Sowersby and made for Klim Type Foundry. It is dated 2014. Its medium is digital print.

Maelstrom is a display face that reverses the expected stress of a typeface. The horizontal strokes are heavy and vertical strokes are thin, giving the letters a strange and unsettling quality. Sowersby is a leader in the field of typeface design; he offers his wares to the global design community through his Klim Type Foundry.

This object was donated by Kris Sowersby. It is credited Courtesy of Klim Type Foundry.

Our curators have highlighted 20 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Poster, NR. 4
  • lithograph on paper.
  • Gift of Anonymous Donor.
  • 1994-109-18

Its dimensions are

H x W: 89.2 × 65.1 cm (35 1/8 × 25 5/8 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/69155189/ |title=Specimen, Maelstrom typeface |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>