Design Pool, LLC. Works with the Museum of Printing for a new collection of movable type

Photo credit: Kristen Detoni

Today, Design Pool, LLC released a new collection of designs inspired by the Museum of Printing. The mission of this small museum is to preserve “the history of graphic arts, printing equipment and printing crafts”.

Located in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the Museum of Printing features small exhibits and extensive special collections. They have hundreds of examples of early printing, typesetting and binding equipment. In addition, there are two libraries of books and documents on the history of printing, as well as a shop and meeting and workshop spaces.

Design Pool founder and designer Kristen Dettoni visited the museum earlier this year and was guided by Executive Director Frank Romano. This tour inspired a collection of eleven designs called Moveable Type.

All designs in Moveable Type refer to typography and the history of printing. The patterns in these patterns are based on old typewriter keys, a collection of flying icons, and letterforms in general. In the case of two designs, Kristen continues to work in code as she did in Design Pool’s award-winning Cryptology collection. These templates use code to pay homage to Victor Lardent, who created Times New Roman, and William Addison Dwiggins, the typesetter who created Metro, Caledonia, and Electra fonts.

To help the museum continue its mission of providing programs and exhibits to the community, proceeds from six of the Moveable Type designs will be donated to The Friends of the Museum of Printing, Inc. Founded in 1978 by a group of print enthusiasts imprint, this non-profit helps the museum safeguard and preserve the equipment and materials collected and share the history of graphic arts. Ultimately, they want to help the museum “tell the stories of these changes using one of the world’s largest collections of printing and typesetting materials and ephemera”.

Romano said of the pattern collection and fundraising effort, “I’m glad to see that the museum has inspired Kristen and I love the patterns in Design Pool’s Moveable Type collection. It is exciting to watch historic printing equipment inspire designs that will ultimately be printed on today’s latest digital printing technologies. We hope that projects like this will motivate more people to learn about the history of printing and to visit the museum.

Based in East Hampstead, New Hampshire, Design Pool is the only pattern library created exclusively for interior designers, with a focus on the commercial interior markets. They partner with digital printers using the latest print-on-demand technology to make customization accessible to interior designers. Their printing partners print on various materials such as vinyl flooring, leatherette upholstery, acoustic panels, wallpaper, and more. Interior Design Magazine has named Design Pool’s Cryptology Collection the 2021 HiP Award Winner and its Invisible Threads Collection the 2022 HiP Award Winner.