285: Independent Foundry Magic with Libbie Bischoff of Type Du Nord

Diana Varma
6 hours ago
2 min read

Welcome back - I’m so glad you’re here.

This is the third episode in a 3-part guest lecture series, speaking with a diverse range of design and typography pros from across North America!

This episode features the owner of foundry Type Du Nord, Libbie Bischoff.

Libbie Bischoff is a Minneapolis-based type designer and educator. She completed the Letterform Archive’s postgraduate program, Type West, in 2020. After graduating, she opened her own type foundry, Type Du Nord. While developing her font library, Libbie teaches beginner and intermediate type design classes through Type Electives. In her free time, she has a lot of creative hobbies like knitting, sewing, and painting.

In this conversation, you’ll hear how Libbie got started in type professionally and what a typical day looks like as a foundry of one. You’ll hear about the way Libbie’s signature may actually be your signature, now or in the future and the storytelling power of type. We talk revival fonts, what success looks like beyond measurable metrics, advice for making type for a living, and how advancing technology is changing (or not changing) Libbie’s approach to her work.

This episode was recorded as part of a guest lecture series in GCM 230 - Typography in fall 2025 at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Let’s listen in…