A giant alphabet painted by Ben Eine has appeared on shutters across the Chrisp Street Market in East London. Part of a project called ‘Alphabet City 2’ it’s not the first time Eine has placed his unique typography in the area. He is and has been well known for it. In total the artist guesses that he must have painted over a thousand shutters around the world.
This time it’s slightly different. He has launched a new creative design studio called ‘OurTypes‘ and this shutter alphabet is part of that launch. There, on his new website, the fonts can be downloaded though only for personal use. He’s been honing his typefaces for years. Re-imaging ancient fonts and coming up with his own unique ones. This agency seems to be his next natural step.
Graffiti Background
With a background in graffiti, Eine has long been obsessed with the letter form. Originally painting his name he evolved to just painting individual letters. Liking the reaction he was getting from the public, it was, he felt, a lot more accessible to people. He’s come a long way since then. His art can be found all over. He’s painted a canvas for the Obama’s and it’s alleged that one of his street pieces is so large that it can be seen from space.
‘Alphabet City 2’ is so called because he has clearly done this before. This time though he has painted the 26 letters of the alphabet across 40 different shop shutters. He’s used a mixture of lower case and upper case as well as utilizing a number of different fonts. Many of the new works will no doubt compliment some of the older pieces that are still dotted around East London.
Founded by Eine, the OurType Studio aims to work with artists around the world and to match them with clients. In particular there is a belief in the power of words through art. It is hoped that the creation of the studio will help take letterform art and communication to new levels. According to OurTypes this is about “creating impact, one letter at a time”.
The OurTypes design studio was launched on 23 July 2019. The alphabet from Ben Eine can be seen on shutters across East London. You can read more about some of Ben Eine’s recent work on Ebor Street in Shoreditch here. All photos used in this post have kindly been provided by ‘ourtypes’.
For more articles featuring the work of Ben Eine take a look at:
Ben Eine is the guest editor of the Big Issue
The Review a Massive Mural in the Olympic Park created by Ben Eine
