Trendlet Alert: Spell it Out

By Heather Summerville
March 19, 2010

Clockwise from top left: Fossil’s Senior Art Director Shay Ometz’s hallway (photo courtesy of Design Sponge); Screen-printed tea towel set, photo courtesy of Pedlars; Brooklyn-based illustrator Alex Eben Meyer’s bed (photo courtesy of Design Sponge); Alphabet tiles, photo courtesy of Pedlars

The Look: Modern simplicity with a graphic punch. No matter the medium—tea towels, throw pillows, decorative letters—well-placed typographic decor can (quite literally) be the defining element of a room.

Seen In: Clothing and accessory brand Fossil’s Senior Art Director Shay Ometz uses a blown-up print of the letter “a” to offset the ensemble of small antiques in her hallway, while Brooklyn-based illustrator Alex Eben Meyer’s choice of a bright yellow ampersand throw pillow gives his crisp, already-graphic bedroom a nice hit of color.

Loved By: Rich Roat, co-founder of the renowned type foundry, House Industries, points out that Alexander Girard was doing alphabet pattern prints for Herman Miller in the ‘50s. So while this isn't necessarily a new trend, it’s one that’s having a huge resurgence. “We work with letters all day, so it’s cool to extrapolate them into something outside of their original intent,” explains Roat, whose company has a division dedicated to turning the fonts the team creates into furnishings and accessories. “All the minute details in stylized types start to get really interesting once they’re scaled up.” Maya Marzolf, who stocks vintage-inspired printed jute rugs in her Brooklyn shop Le Grenier, equates the trend’s popularity to a much more basic appeal: “It’s art without interpretation. You’re not going to be left scratching your head over a supposed meaning. It’s pretty much spelled out for you.”