The ‘Lost and Foundry’ campaign was developed by Fontsmith, M&C Saatchi London and Line Form Colour. The campaign sees the crumbling typefaces of Soho recovered to be sold online as a collection of display fonts, to fund the House of St Barnabas's vital work with London’s homeless.

The House of St Barnabas is a social enterprise that aims to break the cycle of homelessness through its Employment Academy, a programme that works with people who have been affected by homelessness and supports them into lasting work. It does this by operating as a member’s club, with all profits from the club going to the Employment Academy.

For this campaign Fontsmith worked with M&C Saatchi London to develop seven fonts from crumbling signs around Soho, with each named according to the specific content or location relevant to them, such as Berwick, Cattle & Son and Marlborough.

The fonts were hand drawn and turned into fully functioning fonts by Fontsmith designers Stuart de Rozario and Pedro Arilla. This involved adapting and extending the missing characters to make useful and crafted designs out of them, with it taking 3 months to digitise and design a workable series of fonts.

The fonts are available to purchase from the Fontsmith website, with all proceeds to be donated to The House of St Barnabas. Each purchase comes with a one month free membership to the House. 

The fonts have inspired seven original artworks from seven UK-based artists and designers famed for their use of typography. Each artist has used a different font from the collection. The artists contributing are Morag Myerscough, Anthony Burrill, Steven Wilson, Dangerous Minds, Smile, Supermundane and I love dust. Funds raised from the sale of artwork are being donated to the House. To enquire about purchasing a print email art@hosb.org.