"I use dip pens and flat nibs," Xu says. "The nib is like a thin piece of metal. Its flat shape naturally creates a strong contrast between thick and thin strokes."
This similarity led him to consider whether Gothic writing techniques could be adapted to Chinese characters.
His first experiments date back to 2012, when he explored Gothic-inspired Chinese lettering in his graduation work. Years later, after connecting with FounderType, the idea developed into a complete typeface project.
Xu was already known for his Gothic-inspired "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (meaning, wish you good fortune) lettering, which appeared on hats, footwear, scarves, mahjong sets, and enamel cookware, including collaborations with brands such as Nike.
But that project involved only a few characters. ABS Street Ink required thousands of Chinese glyphs.
Xu created each glyph on a digital tablet, adjusting brush settings to reproduce the marks of a flat nib while preserving the rhythm of handwriting.
"Each character was written directly in one go, rather than created by drawing an outline and filling it in," he says. "Every stroke came from the act of writing."
The biggest challenge was consistency. Chinese characters vary greatly in complexity, and Xu had to ensure that thousands of glyphs formed a unified system — with simple characters not appearing too empty and complex ones remaining clear.
For more than a year, he wrote roughly 10 characters a day and repeatedly revised earlier work.
Typeface designer Xing Hangke says the project demonstrates the difference between creating individual lettering pieces and building a functional typeface.
