Universal Cut Plate - The Universal Cut Plate was created by engineer Jonathan A. David in 1876 and sold at the Paris World's Fair in 1878, hence its French name. This stencil was designed to draw all uppercase and lowercase letters as well as all possible and imaginable ornaments using its many lines.
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\nParisian publisher Antoine Lefebvre discovered the object while reading Prem Krishnamurthy’s 2022 book On Letters, a book of letters Krishnamurthy wrote to Japanese artist On Kawara that discuss the lettering in Kawara’s famous Date Painting series. Krishnamurthy admits that, as a young man, he looked down on Kawara’s lettering skills, thinking that anyone could do better with computer software. He then compares the lettering to several different fonts that may have influenced Kawara, including the geometric sans-serif typeface that can be drawn with the Universal Cut Plate.
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\nLefebvre realized that it would be relatively easy to create a contemporary version of David's tool using a laser. To provide context, each 2023 version is accompanied by a copy of the original leaflet that accompanied the tool when it was first sold. The result is a set that valiantly attempts to recreate the original material that type enthusiasts could purchase in Paris at the 1878 World's Fair. Lefebvre used cardboard scraps from previous projects, taking a sustainable approach to his modern facsimile.
