Bonsai was designed by Brian Willson and published by Three Islands Press. Bonsai contains 2 styles and family package options.
Years ago, I developed an interest in the Japanese art of dwarfed potted trees, bonsai. I bought some books on the subject from Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In one — Handbook on Bonsai: Special Techniques (seventh printing, February 1976) — the type was bad. Old worn lead type, I suspect, spread wide in the tops of characters and disappearing on the bottoms.
Two decades later, I came across my Brooklyn Botanic Garden collection and was struck again by this interesting type. Inspired, I made a typeface. Didn’t take me long to decide on a name for it, either: a name with a double-meaning, based both on its look and its inspiration.
Bonsai, the typeface, has two styles, a roman and a true italic.
