Barking up the Font Tree

Occlusion Grotesque is a typeface designed in collaboration by Bjørn Karmann and… a tree. Planted in 1997 in his parents’ property in Ågård, Denmark, Bjørn carved the alphabet on the tree — “only a quarter side of the tree was used to carve the letters, maintaining the tree’s ability to transport essential nutrients from the leaves to the roots” — and tracked its progress annually for four years as the tree grew its bark back and redefined each letter.