Farset + Feirste
Muirmcneil · John McMillan, MuirMcNeil · 2018
A bilingual type system drawn from Belfast's distinctive hand-made ceramic street signs, developed into both latin and Irish gaelic forms with matching cameo variants.
About
Originally prototyped by John McMillan of Ulster University in 2015 from Belfast Corporation's late 19th-century tiled street signage, the system was developed into a full working typeface by MuirMcNeil from 2018. Two primary families cover the latin and Irish gaelic scripts, named Farset and Feirste after the river and the city's Irish name respectively, each accompanied by cameo versions that replicate the inlaid tile aesthetic. The project involved redefining contours, softening terminals and completing both character sets in upper and lower case.
Classification
Based on Belfast's historic hand-made tiled street signage, this is a display typeface derived from vernacular letterforms with both latin and gaelic versions, plus cameo variants replicating the original tile appearance.