Jonathan Sacha Maghen (b.1977) is a British-Iranian designer living and working in Los Angeles, California.¹ They are the founder and Design Director of Primary Foundry (2019–present), and their studio practice. Jonathan has organized workshops and lectures with Index, including Louise Paradis: Typografische Monatsblätter Research Archive (2022), and Dinamo: All Fonts Are Bastards (2022) at Other Means in New York; Typography Summer School LA (2023,2019) with Fraser Muggeridge; and the Dinamo California Tour (2019) with Johannes Breyer and Fabian Harb at CCA, CalArts, ArtCenter, and Southland Institute. They have curated several exhibitions, including No More Reality (2011) with artists Phil Chang, Arthur Ou, Eduardo Sarabia, and Anna Sew Hoy; and the USC Roski School of Art MFA Exhibition (2009) with artists Keith Bormuth, Christian Cummings, Michael Hayden, Lee Lynch, Emily Mast, Nicole Miller, Dianna Molzan, and Michael Parker. Their work has been included in exhibitions at ALAC (Court Space); LA Art Book Fair (WAKA WAKA); CC Project Space (New York); Various Small Fires (Book Affair); Oslo Kunstforening (Charlie White); ICA Philadelphia (Beyond Kiosk); Architectural Association (Forms of Inquiry), Casco (FOI), Archizoom (FOI); As-Found (Worldwide Web); and MU Eindhoven (Neen Today). Their work has appeared in Artforum (500 Words), The New York Times (T Magazine), Graphic Magazine (IFS Futures Newsletter), Double Pages (Ecole des Beaux-arts), 175:D (Delvaux), and Forms of Inquiry. Their publications include Municipal de Fútbol, a clothbound edition on amateur soccer as it is played throughout Los Angeles, published by Christoph Keller Editions, with essays by Jennifer Doyle, and distributed by DAP. Jonathan has been a visiting lecturer and instructor at Otis College of Art and Design (2020–22), Frances Rich School of Fine Arts (2022), California Institute of the Arts (2012,2008), ArtCenter College of Design (2006), and was an MFA Thesis Advisor at the School of Visual Arts (2016) for artist and photographer, Peter Killeen. Jonathan has collaborated with artists Marco Braunschweiler, Phil Chang, Zoe Crosher, Shannon Ebner, Christoph Keller, Emily Mast, Ivan Morley, Ezequiel Olvera, Arthur Ou, Rafaël Rozendaal, Eduardo Sarabia, Anna Sew Hoy, and Charlie White. Jonathan is the cofounder of TAGBANGER (2004–13) with artist Rafaël Rozendaal. They have attended workshops at the Southland Institute (2020,2019) with Joe Potts, and Typography Summer School LA (2019) with Fraser Muggeridge. Jonathan immigrated to the US from England at age two and was raised in Los Angeles, attending 32nd Street Elementary in South LA and John Burroughs Middle School in Hancock Park. They are an alumnus of SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, and attended LACHSA in East LA. Jonathan holds dual American and British citizenship, and is of Northern European and West Asian ancestry.²

Jonathan Sacha Maghen
Los Angeles, CA
jonathan.maghen@gmail.com

Are.na
Foundation 
Primary
Library Stack

Art Direction, Artists’ Books, Branding, Catalogues, Cultural Programming, Digital Design, Ephemera, Identities, Lectures, Printed Matter, Publications, Type Design, Websites, Workshops

adidas, Arthur Ou, Charlie White, Christoph Keller Editions, Court Space, Dinamo, Index, Ivan Morley, LACMA, LAXART, patagonia, Phil Chang, Shannon Ebner, Southland Institute, Stählemühle, Typography Summer School, USC Roski School

Arthur Ou, Authentic, Benjamin Tiven, Berton Hasebe, Carlos Avila, Charlie White, Charlotte Cotton, Christoph Keller, Clynton Lowry, Darnell Coleman, David Karwan, Denzel Boyd, Dorian Nagy, Eduardo Sarabia, Elie Andersen, Evan Chang, Ezequiel Olvera, Fabian Harb, Fraser Muggeridge, Gary Fogelson, Gunnar Harrison, Hailey Loman, Hector Torres, Ian Griffin, Iguana, Jennifer Doyle, Joe Potts, Johannes Breyer, Kaming Lee, Kasper Pyndt, Ken Seeno, Library Stack, Lorraine Li, Louise Paradis, Matteo Bettini, Michael Wells, Mike Calvert, Nolan Paparelli, Other Means, Phil Chang, Rafaël Rozendaal, Sam Wagner, Sandy Yang, Shannon Ebner, Shin Okuda, Stephen Serrato, Steven Rodriguez, Tiffanie Tran, Tom Kracauer 

• Jonathan Maghen ed., Municipal de Fútbol, Christoph Keller Editions, with essays by Jennifer Doyle
• Phil Chang, Four Over One, Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in association with Jonathan Maghen

• No More Reality, CC Project Space, New York, NY
• MFA Exhibition, USC Roski School of Art, Los Angeles, CA

• Los Angeles Contemporary Archive
• Printed Matter
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Oslo Kunstforening
• Christoph Keller Editions
• Library Stack
• Creativity Crisis Center
• Dinamo GmbH
• USC Roski School of Art

Design and development 
Jonathan Maghen
Syncro Mono typeface
Out of the Dark

1. Jonathan lives and works in Toluca Lake, a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles which sits along the LA River (Río Porciúncula) between the Northwest end of Griffith Park and Southwest end of The Verdugos.

2. Barbara Fields and Karen Fields, Racecraft (Verso, 2012). Graduate Center, CUNY.