The Type Directors Club has announced the 35 winners from 14 countries in the Ascenders 2023 competition, celebrating typographers, lettering artists, and type designers age 35 and under.
Ascenders is the world premier portfolio-based competition dedicated to type in all its versatile forms, and the inspiring designers — individuals or duos — who are elevating the medium. Entrants submitted curated portfolios of their top six projects alongside a short introduction to their practice, and were judged by an international jury of global leaders in the field, including a number of past Ascenders winners.
This group of 35 joins prominent past Ascenders winners including Au Chon Hin (Macao, 2022), Andrej & Andrej (Bratislava, 2022), Kevin Cantrell (Mantua, US, 2018), Fernanda Cozzi (Buenos Aires, 2019), Roxane Gataud (Brussels, 2022), Wael Morcos (New York, 2018), Gemma O’Brien (Sydney, 2022), Tré Seals (Washington DC, 2018), and others.
First launched in 2018, the Ascenders competition was the idea of former TDC Advisory Board member Paul Carlos, principal at Pure+Applied, adjunct faculty, Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, who remains active in the organization.
“While Ascenders was originally envisioned to celebrate those breaking into the field, it has very quickly become about recognizing those already leading, carrying our industry to new heights and aspirations,” said Ksenya Samarskaya, TDC managing director. “If you want to know what’s at the bleeding edge today, and what tomorrow is bound to look like, memorize these names.”
TDC, part of The One Club for Creativity, will host a public reception for the Ascenders 2023 winners on June 15, 2023, in the club’s gallery space in New York. Details and tickets are available here.
