When I started designing type, I wasn’t thinking about building a business. I was just making. Creating Erkin and Kaikura with hours of 70s soul and funk in my ears, or shaping Costes late at night while bossa nova drifted in the background. That music wasn’t just background noise, it shaped everything. The rhythm, the spacing, the flow, it all came from what I was hearing.

Those early typefaces were my way of translating sound into form. Patterns that echoed basslines. Curves that felt like melodies. I didn’t overthink it. I just let the music lead.

A lot of the people who connected with my work early on came from the music world. That meant everything to me. To see my type used on album covers, visual identities, tour visuals, it felt like a full circle moment. I’m grateful, always, to those who trusted me to be part of their sound.

Now, with this next chapter of Biliktu Foundry, I’m bringing it all closer together. Not just design inspired by music but music made by me. Under the names Biliktu and FUNKATIQUE, I’ve been recording my debut album. And from now on, every typeface collection I release will come with its own original score composed by me, from the same place the type comes from.

I want my work to feel lived in. The music gives the type context. It makes the whole experience deeper.

This is where Biliktu is headed, where design and sound move together.