Grez

Grez is a new typeface by Ulrika Hellberg, created entirely from shapes cut out of black paper. It’s a typeface made by hand—with all the functionality of a modern digital font.

With a residency grant, Ulrika spent two weeks in Grez-sur-Loing, a small village near Paris with a rich history as an international artists’ colony. “I started out without a clear plan, making classical drawings by the river. In the evenings, I would watch Glyphs tutorials. At one point, I began cutting out letterforms from paper. It worked best with black paper, but since I didn’t bring any, I painted white paper with black acrylic. I assembled an alphabet from A to Z, which I collected in my notebook. To guide my process, I set two rules: 1. Only paper, scissors, and glue stick allowed—no sketching or use of a ruler. 2. No shapes to be drawn directly in Glyphs.”

The typeface is all-caps, with each character featuring four stylistic alternates that are randomized as you type. It offers extensive language support, along with ligatures, mathematical symbols, currency signs, and other special characters.