Tom Carnase

Thomas "Tom" Paul Carnase (born 1939 in the Bronx^[1]) is an American typographer, type designer, and graphic designer,^[2][3] known for his Spencerian calligraphy.^[4] He currently operates a studio in Palm Springs, California.^[5]

Career

After graduating with an associate bachelor of fine arts degree from New York City Community College in 1959,^[6] Carnase spent the first five years of his career in the design division of Sudler & Hennessey under the direction of Herbert Lubalin^[1][7] before creating freelance design studio Bonder and Carnase Inc. with Ronne Bonder in 1964.^[1][8][9]

In 1969, Carnase became vice president of Lubalin, Smith, Carnase (also known as Herb Lubalin, Inc. or Lubalin Inc.). "Most of the lettering done under the art direction of Herb Lubalin was accomplished by Tom Carnase, and not by Herb Lubalin as is commonly believed."^[1]

Carnase co-founded the World Typeface Corporation, also known as the World Typeface Center and abbreviated to WTC in 1980.^[5] From 1982 to 1987, WTC released the typography journal Ligature four times a year, published and creatively directed by Carnase. Volume 1, Number 1 of the journal was released in June, 1982 and describes itself as "^[vague] all about type and typography. It's about letterforms, their use and abuse, their history and their future. The journal presented articles about typographic technology and specimens of WTC fonts.

Throughout his career, Carnase held various different teaching positions. Institutions he worked at include the Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).^[2][5]

Notable works

Throughout his career, Carnase has contributed to numerous notable projects including over 100 typefaces.^[4] Some of his clients included ABC, CBS, NBC, and Coca-Cola.^[3]

ITC Avant Garde Gothic

ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a typeface based on Herb Lubalin's logotype for the Avant Garde magazine.^[10] Lubalin sketched the original glyph set and Carnase later added additional ligatures and letterforms as well as alternate weights and styles.^[4]

Gastrotypographicalassemblage

The Gastrotypographicalassemblage consists of nine panels of wood typography. It was designed by Lou Dorfsman for the CBS Building in 1966. Carnase helped to design the hand-milled typography.^[11][12] The artwork contained nearly 1500 individual letterforms.^[13]

WTC Our Bodoni

Commissioned by Bert Di Pamphilis, WTC Our Bodoni is a Bodoni revival designed by Tom Carnase under the direction of Massimo Vignelli for WTC. The typeface consisted of four different weights with headings. The difference in x-height in Carnase's revival compared to the source material and other revivals led to it being named Our Bodoni.^[8][9]