House Industries

House Industries is a type foundry and design studio based in Yorklyn, Delaware.[1] The company was created in the 1990s in Wilmington, Delaware by co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat.[1] The company is best known for its typeface creations, which have appeared on television (e.g. Nickelodeon's TV Land, VH1's Best Week Ever), in film (e.g. Mission: Impossible III) and on commercial products (e.g. Ann Taylor garment tag, Lucky Charms logo and Green Day's Dookie album).[1]

History

Founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat met at Miller Mauro Group, Inc., a Wilmington, Del. marketing communications agency. They briefly worked for Swfte International, a Miller Mauro Group client, before leaving to form Brand Design Co., Inc in 1993. Cruz and Roat formed House Industries in late 1993. Popular typefaces sold by House Industries include Neutraface, a geometric sans-serif, Eames Century Modern, inspired by the design work of Ray and Charles Eames,[2] and Chalet, a set of designs inspired by common sans-serifs such as Avant Garde Grotesque, Helvetica and its adaptations from the 1960s to the 1990s, and a collection of revivals of the lettering of Ed Benguiat.[3][4][5][6] Its SignPainter script font is bundled with macOS.

The company goes to elaborate lengths to promote its typefaces, including creating chairs, pillows and various other items inspired by the typefaces they sell.[7] In one promotion they created the fictional character René Albert Chalet and promoted him as the creator of a new typeface Chalet.[8] In February 2010 LAS Magazine wrote about the company's Eames Century Modern Collection, a project done in collaboration with the estate of architects Charles and Ray Eames.[9]

Its first ever West Coast exhibition showcasing its history is running at Chapman University's Guggenheim Gallery from February 6 to March 9, 2012.[10] It published a book, House Industries: The Process Is the Inspiration with foreword by J.J. Abrams, a fan of the company's work, in 2017.[11] Founder Rich Roat died suddenly on 29 November 2017 aged 52.[12][13]

References
  1. Ryan Cormier (May 24, 2006). "Del. design studio makes mark from print to film". The News Journal. p. B10.
  2. Heck, Bethany. "Eames Century Modern". Font Review Journal. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  3. Carney, Rob. "Greatest fonts countdown: 92 - Chalet". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  4. Berry, John D. (2006). Dot-font: Talking About Fonts (1st ed.). New York: Mark Batty Publisher. pp. 117–121. ISBN 0-9772827-0-8.
  5. Korwin, Josh (March 25, 2009). "Neutraface is the new Helvetica". threestepsahead.com. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  6. Coles, Stephen. "Farewell Futura, Hello Neutraface No. 2". Typographica. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  7. Berry, John D. "Industrial Cool". Creative Pro. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  8. VanderLans, Rudy (2004-12-20). "It's a thin line: A Review of House Industries". Speak Up. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  9. LAS House Industries Eames Century Modern article
  10. "Photo-Letting Exhibition". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  11. Klara, Robert. "House Industries' Fonts Have Added Style, Swagger and Strangeness to What We Buy for 2 Decades". Adweek. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  12. Duvernay, Adam. "Hockessin's Rich Roat, House Industries founder, dies". Delaware Online. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  13. Horton, Gwendolyn. "Rich Roat 1965–2017". Design Within Reach. Retrieved 8 December 2017.


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