Colophon

The Name

Eschaton is a game in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest — described in the book as “the world’s most complicated game,” which I felt was an apt description for investing. In the novel, players simulate geopolitical conflict on tennis courts using tennis balls as warheads and dirty laundry as military assets. The Game Master wears a propeller beanie that changes color based on the nuclear threat level at any given time. That beanie became the firm’s logo: a nod to the idea that serious work and a sense of play aren’t mutually exclusive, and a hope that we will always get to be the master of our own game.

Infinite Jest is a book that has had a deep impact on me ever since I read it in college and still resonates today. One of Wallace’s central anxieties at the time that he wrote it was that television addiction was inducing brain rot, social atomization, and spiritual death. As a recent New Yorker retrospective put it: in light of our mass smartphone and social-media addictions, a TV habit seems almost benign. The book’s warnings have only gotten sharper with time, and I often wonder what he’d think about our current world landscape.

Outside of the context of the book, the word “eschaton” means “the end of the world.” The seed capital for this firm came from an inheritance my dad left me after he passed away from brain cancer in 2020 — which very much felt like the end of the world to me. In that way, the name of this firm is meant to honor him.

Typography

Headlines are set in Financier Display, a serif typeface designed by Kris Sowersby at Klim Type Foundry. It was originally commissioned for the Financial Times and carries a quiet authority that felt right for an investment firm — editorial, precise, and confident without being loud.

Body text is set in Instrument Sans, a clean sans-serif from Google Fonts by Rodrigo Fuenzalida. The pairing gives the site a deliberate contrast: traditional and modern, serious and approachable.

Design

The visual identity centers on a Sierpinski triangle tessellation — a fractal pattern generated dynamically via JavaScript and rendered as SVG. The triangle is a recurring motif in Infinite Jest, from the geometry of the tennis courts to the triangulated relationships between characters, and the Sierpinski fractal felt like an apt extension: mathematical precision, recursive depth, and a pattern that reveals more the closer you look. The crimson stroke on warm cream draws from the palette of the Financial Times.

The site’s broader visual identity takes cues from high-end editorial design and luxury watchmaking — particularly the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5212A, a serious watch with a handwritten dial that manages to be a little playful. The goal here is the same: authority first, then personality on closer inspection.

Technology

The site is built with Next.js and hosted on Vercel. The Financier Display typeface is self-hosted for reliable rendering. The Sierpinski triangle tessellation and scroll-synchronized navigation are generated at runtime.

Analytics by Google Analytics. Content published via Substack and rendered on-site via RSS.

Principles

This site is designed to be fast, readable, and respectful of your attention. There are no pop-ups, no cookie banners beyond what’s legally required, no third-party ad trackers, and no dark patterns. The writing on this site is original and human-authored.

The site doesn’t collect personal information beyond standard analytics. We don’t sell data, and we don’t serve ads. If you have questions about anything here, get in touch.

Acknowledgments

Built with care in Seattle. Designed and maintained by Sam Shapiro with the assistance of Claude by Anthropic. The colophon tradition draws from the IndieWeb community’s advocacy for a more personal, intentional web. Set in type by people who believe craft still matters.