A style study — not a real store, not affiliated with Herb Lubalin · more
Lubalin tea study

Chinese tea · type set tight

Letters pressed close, tea in the counters

Every page is built the way a headline is built: letters touching, bowls opened up so a photograph of the leaf can sit inside them.

Cream poster with tightly set black lettering; round photographs of dark pu-erh clumps fill the bowls of the letters

Thirty-four teas in seven categories

34 teas · 7 categories

Green teaGreen tea5 teasOolongOolong14 teasRed tea (hongcha)Red tea (hongcha)6 teasPu-erhPu-erh4 teasWhite teaWhite tea2 teasTea paste (chagao)Tea paste (chagao)2 teasBuckwheat (not a tea)Buckwheat (not a tea)1 tea

Wear the lettering

All tees and hoodies →

Wear — Ālǐshān Zhū Lù CháĀlǐshān Zhū Lù CháWear — Bái JiānBái JiānWear — Passion-Fruit OolongPassion-Fruit OolongWear — Raw Pu-erh PasteRaw Pu-erh PasteWear — Ripe Pu-erh PasteRipe Pu-erh PasteWear — Dà Hóng PáoDà Hóng Páo

What this study is

Every page here starts as a piece of lettering, not as a layout. Words are set so close that the letters share edges, and where a counter opens up we drop a photograph of the leaf inside, so the type becomes the window. Cream paper, one black ink, a single brick bar to stop the eye. Tea is a slow product; tight type gives it a voice loud enough to carry across a shelf. The lettering follows Herb Lubalin's typographic practice as we read it. This is a design study rather than a store: nothing here is sold, and the project is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Herb Lubalin, his studio or his estate.