diff --git a/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.cpp b/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.cpp
index 1fd8a0a..ea40bc4 100644
--- a/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.cpp
+++ b/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.cpp
@@ -28,11 +28,10 @@ void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::setup(const ComboIdentifier & identifier,
             ofExit();
         }
     }
-    ofxGPUFont::tryUpdateMainFont(library,
-                                  this->identifier.fontPath,
-                                  mainText,
-                                  font,
-                                  this->settings.gpuTextureOffset);
+    ofxGPUFont::initializeFont(library,
+                               this->identifier.fontPath,
+                               font,
+                               this->settings.gpuTextureOffset);
 
     font->listFontVariationAxes(fontVariationAxesParameters, library);
     cout << this->identifier.fontPath << " : fontVariationAxes :" << endl;
@@ -71,19 +70,16 @@ void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::update(){
         }
     }
     if(isDirty){
-        //ofxGPUFont::tryUpdateMainFont(library,
-        //this->identifier.fontPath,
-        //mainText,
-        //font,
-        //this->settings.gpuTextureOffset);
-        // update the text
-        // this doesn't happen very often, so let's just
-        // iterate over all layers and calculate fresh
         std::string text = "";
         totalCharacters = 0;
+        std::vector <ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity> _variationText;
         for(const auto & layer : layers){
             std::string layerText = layer->getProps().text;
             totalCharacters += layerText.length();
+            _variationText.insert(_variationText.end(),
+                                  layer->getVariationText().begin(),
+                                  layer->getVariationText().end());
+
             text += layerText;
             layer->setDirtyDirty(false); // technically not clean yet
                                          // but this is synchronous
@@ -92,7 +88,10 @@ void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::update(){
         }
         removeDuplicateCharacters(text);
         mainText = text;
-        font->prepareGlyphsForText(mainText, true);
+        variationText = std::move(_variationText);
+        font->prepareGlyphsForText(variationText,
+                                   library,
+                                   true);
         isDirty = false;
     }
 }
@@ -152,7 +151,6 @@ void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::setVFlip(VFlipState vFlipState){
 const vector <shared_ptr <GPUFontLayer> > & GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::getLayers(){
     return layers;
 }
-bool lalala = false;
 void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::draw(){
     GLuint location;
 
@@ -227,17 +225,10 @@ void GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo::draw(){
             font->collectVerticesAndIndices(glm::vec3(layer->getProps().x,
                                                       layer->getProps().y,
                                                       0),
-                                            layer->getProps().text,
+                                            layer->getVariationText(),
                                             vertices, indices, true,
                                             layer->getProps().fontSize_px);
-            if(!lalala){
-                nlohmann::json json;
-                auto props = layer->getProps();
-                props.to_json(json, props);
-                cout << "prooops:" << json.dump(2);
-            }
         }
-        lalala = true;
         vertices.resize(totalCharacters * 4);
         indices.resize(totalCharacters * 6);
         //cx = 0.5f * (bb.minX + bb.maxX);
diff --git a/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.h b/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.h
index 2bcb974..dd1a9c5 100644
--- a/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.h
+++ b/src/GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ class GPUFontAtlasLayerCombo : public AtlasLayerCombo {
 
         shared_ptr <ofxGPUFont::Font> font;
         string mainText = "";
+        std::vector <ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity> variationText;
 
         bool isDirty = false;
     private:
diff --git a/src/GPUFontLayer.cpp b/src/GPUFontLayer.cpp
index 4ff194e..37ab4df 100644
--- a/src/GPUFontLayer.cpp
+++ b/src/GPUFontLayer.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "GPUFontLayer.h"
 #include "Atlas.h"
 #include "Utils.h"
+#include "font.hpp"
 #include "fwd.hpp"
 #include "ofGraphics.h"
 #include "ofUtils.h"
@@ -43,11 +44,27 @@ void GPUFontLayer::setDirtyDirty(bool dirtyDirty){
 }
 
 void GPUFontLayer::setProps(const Props & props){
-    // TODO: for now only check text,
-    // but we should of course check also variations
-    if(propsBuffer.size() == 0 || props.text != propsBuffer[0].text){
+    if(propsBuffer.size() == 0 || props.text != propsBuffer[0].text
+       || propsBuffer[0].fontVariations != props.fontVariations){
         setDirtyDirty(true);
+        variationText.clear();
+        variationText.resize(props.text.size());
+        int i = 0;
+        for(const char c : props.text){
+            ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity glyphIdentity;
+            glyphIdentity.charcode = ofxGPUFont::decodeCharcode(&c);
+            for(const auto & fv : props.fontVariations){
+                glyphIdentity.coords.push_back(
+                    std::move(ofxGPUFont::float2f16dot16(round(fv.value)))     // convert to FT
+                    // NOTE: we are also rounding here, since in practice a variation
+                    // of 100.0 will not look much different than 100.124
+                    );
+            }
+            variationText[i] = std::move(glyphIdentity);
+            i++;
+        }
     }
+
     while(propsBuffer.size() > max(0, int(settings.maxBufferSize - 1))){
         propsBuffer.pop_back();
     }
@@ -65,4 +82,7 @@ void GPUFontLayer::setId(const LayerID & id){
 const LayerID & GPUFontLayer::getId(){
     return id;
 }
+const vector <ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity> & GPUFontLayer::getVariationText(){
+    return variationText;
+}
 }
diff --git a/src/GPUFontLayer.h b/src/GPUFontLayer.h
index 2a266be..b212a0a 100644
--- a/src/GPUFontLayer.h
+++ b/src/GPUFontLayer.h
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include "font.hpp"
 #include "ofMain.h"
 #include "ofxGPUFont.h"
 #include "Atlas.h"
@@ -37,6 +38,8 @@ class GPUFontLayer : public Layer {
         bool isDirtyDirty() const override;
         void setDirtyDirty(bool dirtyDirty) override;
 
+        const vector <ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity> & getVariationText();
+
         //void setAtlas(shared_ptr <ofxGPUFont::Atlas> _atlas);
         //shared_ptr <ofxGPUFont::Atlas> getAtlas() const;
 
@@ -49,6 +52,7 @@ class GPUFontLayer : public Layer {
         /// \brief hashed id, or just counting up
         string id = "";
         VFlipState vFlip = V_FLIP_UNKNOWN;
+        vector <ofxGPUFont::GlyphIdentity> variationText;
 
     private:
         Layer::Type type = GPUFONT;
diff --git a/src/Layer.h b/src/Layer.h
index d5061b1..cce9d00 100644
--- a/src/Layer.h
+++ b/src/Layer.h
@@ -37,21 +37,23 @@ class Layer {
             bool mirror_y = false;
             float mirror_y_distance = 0;
             float letterDelay = 0;
+            std::vector <ofxVariableLab::FontVariation> fontVariations;
             string text = "abc";
             string fontPath = "data/celines-fonts/Version-2-var.ttf";
-            NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE(Props,
-                                               x,
-                                               y,
-                                               rotation,
-                                               fontSize_px,
-                                               color,
-                                               mirror_x,
-                                               mirror_x_distance,
-                                               mirror_y,
-                                               mirror_y_distance,
-                                               letterDelay,
-                                               text,
-                                               fontPath)
+            //NLOHMANN_DEFINE_TYPE_NON_INTRUSIVE(Props,
+            //x,
+            //y,
+            //rotation,
+            //fontSize_px,
+            //color,
+            //mirror_x,
+            //mirror_x_distance,
+            //mirror_y,
+            //mirror_y_distance,
+            //letterDelay,
+            //fontVariations,
+            //text,
+            //fontPath)
         };
 
         virtual void setup(const LayerSettings & settings = LayerSettings()) = 0;
diff --git a/src/Utils.h b/src/Utils.h
index 971c954..a74026a 100644
--- a/src/Utils.h
+++ b/src/Utils.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <set>
 #include <glm/glm.hpp>
+#include "json.hpp"
 #include <ft2build.h>
 #include FT_FREETYPE_H
 #include FT_MULTIPLE_MASTERS_H
@@ -12,15 +13,18 @@
 namespace ofxVariableLab {
 
 struct FontVariationAxis {
-    char * name;
+    std::string name;
     float minValue;
     float maxValue;
     float defaultValue;
 };
 
 struct FontVariation {
-    char * name;
+    std::string name;
     float value;
+    bool operator==(const FontVariation & other) const {
+        return name == other.name && value == other.value;
+    }
 };
 
 #ifndef F26DOT6_TO_DOUBLE