This is a Chicago Printing Office Jennifer Farrell Starshaped Press Print and typeform
"The City is My Religion” is a project three years in the making and serves as a memoir, a type specimen, and a love letter to the city of Chicago, my adopted home for the last 25 years.
The substantial metal type collection at Starshaped Press is constantly growing and evolving alongside my life experiences that are deeply rooted in Chicago. The urban environment is the backdrop for this typographic memoir that showcases the studio’s type collection and serves as a pictorial representation of the first 25 years of my life in the city. My 2017-18 fellowship at The Newberry Library provided research support for the project and my day to day movement through the city was the guiding force and inspiration."
Ten prints, or elevations, cover the themes of printing, women, labor, music, neighborhoods, architecture, motherhood and perseverance. Each tells a story in image and anecdote while featuring a grouping of typefaces based on my approach to the subject. Ten construction drawings designed to resemble traditional architectural bluelines explain and document the text and typography of the prints.
Since 1999, Jennifer Farrell has operated Starshaped Press in Chicago, with a focus on designing and printing everything from business cards to posters, as well as custom commissions, wholesale ephemera and limited edition prints and books. All work in the studio is created with metal and wood type, making Starshaped one of the few presses in the country producing commercial work while preserving antique type and related print materials. Jennifer’s work has been repeatedly recognized in books, magazines and design blogs, and has appeared in poster shows throughout the USA and Europe.