01 / 042026
Type design
Kohaku — display serif, three weights
Foundry 47
印
Studio open · Sept 2026 commissions
Kyoto · Higashiyama04.26 — 03:32 JST
墨
Inkstone
Type · brush · letter
Folio · vol. 27
Hiroshi
Tanaka.
Type design and brush calligraphy from a small studio in Kyoto. Marks for editions, signage, and the occasional house mark.
27
yrs at the stone
94
marks cut
94.6%
marks still in use
墨
Plate 027Sumi · washi
Kohaku, single character
Foundry 47 · 2026
印
Studio status
Two open commissions · Q3 2026
Houses · presses · platforms
Mercury OS ·Maison Château ·Verge Editions ·Northwind Labs ·Foundry 47 ·Karmel Press ·Linnea Bakery ·Plover Studio ·Sumiya Editions ·Field Notes Co. ·Mercury OS ·Maison Château ·Verge Editions ·Northwind Labs ·Foundry 47 ·Karmel Press ·Linnea Bakery ·Plover Studio ·Sumiya Editions ·Field Notes Co. ·
Selected work · 2024 — 2026
A small folio.
02 / 042025
Calligraphy commission
Brush set — Mercury 3.0 release
Mercury OS
印
03 / 042025
Lettering
Bookplate suite no. 14
Sumiya Editions
印
04 / 042024
Custom signage type
Wayfinding — Kyoto Wayfair
Plover Studio
印
Practice
Three movements per mark.
A commission moves through three movements. Each takes a third of the time. Skipping the first costs the third twice over.
Brush before keyboard · always
壱
Sit
A week of looking — what does the brand sound like, what does the page need? No marks yet.
弐
Stroke
Twenty to forty brush studies on washi. The mark is found, not designed.
参
Cut
Vector translation, hinting, and OpenType where applicable. Final delivered with the inked original.
Inkstone vs. agency lettering
Why a single brush.
Practice point
Inkstone
Typical lettering studio
Who letters
Hiroshi, every stroke
Pooled designers
Brush studies
20–40, archived
3–6, deleted
Final asset
Vector + signed original
Vector only
Languages
Latin · kanji · hangul
Latin only
Lead time
8 weeks for a mark
2 weeks for a sketch
Hiroshi cut a typeface for us in fourteen weeks. It still feels brushed even on a screen.
Soraya Mehta
Type Lead, Foundry 47
0
Years at the inkstone
0
Marks cut
0
Typefaces released
0
Brush studies archived
Engagement
Three ways to commission.
The studio takes about ten commissions a year. Type families twice that.
Tier
Investment
Window
Includes
Single mark
from ¥420,000
1 mark, 4 weeks
- Brush exploration & sign-off
- 1 final, vector + raster
- Print + digital licensing
Suite
Most chosen
from ¥1,400,000
Mark + 3 supporting marks, 8 weeks
- Master mark + variants
- Brush studies as deliverables
- Type-pairing recommendation
Typeface
by project
Display family, 4–6 months
- Three weights + italic
- OpenType programming
- Foundry release support
Common questions
Before you write.
Not here? Write — studio@inkstone.kyoto
From the desk
Quiet notes.
04 / 2026Studio
Spent the morning re-grinding a stone — twenty-eight years old this autumn.
Read note
03 / 2026Type
Kohaku Italic shipped to Foundry 47. Slightly slower than I had hoped.
Read note
02 / 2026Travel
Two weeks in Kanazawa visiting the gold-leaf workshops.
Read note
01 / 2026Writing
Began a quiet essay on the difference between a stroke and a line.
Read note
Open commission
Write the brief.
Send a single character.
Most commissions begin with a single word — a name, a verb, a phrase your brand keeps repeating. That is enough.