Dom Hans van der Laan (1904 – 1991) was an architect and monk, who lived and worked in a Benedictine monastic community near the small Dutch town of Vaals. He created a beautiful and practical typeface, the Alphabet in Stone, based on Roman carved capitals.

Dutch design studio Autobahn have now developed a digital version, true to the original, but modified where necessary for contemporary use – for example by the addition of an @ sign, a # and a €. Autobahn have produced a video describing the development of the project, and showing expert mason Fr Leo Disch carving van der Laan’s letters into stone.

Rob Stolte
Autobahn

Digital Alphabet in Stone – Dom Hans van der Laan/Autobahn 2011 from autobahn on Vimeo.