Formist acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land upon which we operate.

Design services with feeling and clarity
About us

Formist is a design studio, a publisher and a type foundry. Driven by the belief that design is as much about feeling as it is about clarity, Formist utilise their unique design experience to develop rigorous solutions for commissioners and self-initiated projects. Every Formist project exhibits a commitment to research, detail and quality.

Formist has over 25 years experience as an industry leader specialising in design for leading cultural and commercial organisations including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Candalepas Associates, Seoul Museum of Art, Entertainment One, Hopscotch Films, Kaldor Public Art Projects, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, JCDecaux, Sydney Opera House, Warp Records, Powerhouse Museum, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney Film Festival, Universal Music, Artspace Sydney, University of Technology Sydney and the Venice Art Biennale.

In addition to Formist Studio, the organisation also comprises Formist Foundry, a commercial outlet for unique and bespoke typefaces; and Formist Editions, a publishing division committed to creating high quality books, limited edition objects, prints and artworks for lovers of art and design.

formisteditions.co
formistfoundry.co

Mark Gowing
Founder and creative director

Mark Gowing is an artist, designer and publisher working in Gadigal/Wangal country, Sydney, Australia. He is the director of Formist, a publisher, type foundry and design studio, which specialises in books, typefaces and cultural commissions. Gowing is also co-founder of the groundbreaking music arts organisation Longform Editions. With a practice spanning more than 35 years, Gowing has produced projects for leading organisations and institutions with a passionate focus on visual art and language, design, film and music. In 2018 Gowing’s work was featured in the publication The History of Graphic Design. Vol. 2. 1960–Today and his poster design is surveyed in the publication Mark Gowing: Inside the Oblong. He has been honoured with solo exhibitions at the 22nd International Poster Biennale in Warsaw, Poland, the Divieto d’Affissione in Turin, Italy, and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Gowing is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and his work is held in numerous institutional collections including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, USA.