Industrial Chimney Lettering — Craig Welsh
Channel: TypeCon
Date: 2022-06-27

Recorded during TypeCon2018: Xx in Portland, Oregon

Brand identities in the industrial age were often communicated through the use of vertically-stacked masonry chimney lettering.

Several years of research have provided access to source materials from the leading chimney construction company of the period — Alphons Custodis. The company remains active and we have forged a relationship that fuels ongoing research via materials from the company’s archives.

We have amassed a collection of several hundred photographs of industrial chimney lettering and ornamenting/patterning. Additionally, we have roughly two dozen archival engineering drawings which provide exact specifications for the masonry construction and lettering styles — ranging in size from 7- to 21-course designs; a ‘course’ is a single row of bricks.