Linearity – Fragments of Beauty

Odore

elementi — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:41:09 +0000

Oft hatte ich mich gefragt, was mir an diesem Land, oder dieser Stadt, am meisten fehlte, oder was anders herum ausgedrückt in mir auf schnellste und direkteste Weise eine Sehnsucht nach ihr auslöste: es war der Geruch.

Perché l’odore, il senso olfattivo, non è lineare come un’idea od una costruzione di prospettiva.

Proust schreibt in einem seiner Bücher, wie der Geruch des Schimmels in ihm ein Liebesglück auslöste. So erging es mir auch. Ich konnte durch die Straßen dieser Stadt laufen, ohne dass mich die prachtvollen Gebäude übermannt hätten oder die sommerlich gelbgrünen Parks (während in meinem Heimatland noch der geruchlose Winter herrschte) als vielmehr der leichte, stets in der Luft zu schweben scheinende, Duft von feuchtem Gemäuer.

The Simmetria Fonts

elementi — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 08:57:20 +0000

As I no longer regularly follow Vogue Italy for quite a time now I only got to know casually and with some delay what big changes have been going on there. Franca Sozzani the world famous and glamorous (at least this was also my first impression of her when I saw her illuminating figure for the first time in the floors of Condé Nast) fashion editor has disappeared. At least, that is how it would be called in Italian language: synonym for death. And with her, or a few months later, also Luca Stoppini no longer is the art director of the magazine. I have no idea why nor didn’t I succeed in finding out anything about the reasons in the world wide web. Strange. Most probably they only wanted to give the magazine in troubled digital times a new fresh look or maybe a last chance to hold up against the market. Sure, I am not the right person to discuss decisions like that. But I have always considered Luca Stoppini to be one of the last great magazine art directors in the tradition of Alexey Brodovitch*. In the sense of always searching for a striking point of view, the astonishing above the banal solutions. When we met in the years immediately before 2000 it was his idea of doing something with particular shaped characters (fonts) which brought me in. One of his favorites of this time seemed to be the experiments with very elongated letter forms. Things similar to what the Russian futurists had done in the first half of the past century. I loved it very much and without saying was very proud of being invited into his office in order to draw and create those fonts. One of the results was Simmetria which is shown here.

*Brodovitch has been, among other things, a quarter of a century the creative head of Harper’s Bazaar. And, indeed, he was famous for his mercilessness to not let pass anything under his direction that could even slightly be suspected of being trivial or without a particular point of view. As a side note it is interesting that he also experimented with typeface design from time to time, although in another direction.

Unique

elementi — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 06:35:43 +0000

Out of my researches initiated by Luca Stoppini for Vogue Italy magazine evolved later a series of typefaces and graphics that treat the theme of ‘Silhouettes’ and lines as was once the center of couture dressing art. Credits: [Dior Atelier] · Paolo Roversi | Photography

Ravish

elementi — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 11:25:32 +0000

It was quite a long time ago that I did the first design of this ultra thin linear character called Ravish. Its title came from a fashion story by Vogue Italy. Credits: Paolo Roversi | Photography

Il Riflesso

elementi — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 06:58:40 +0000

Per certi versi la fanciulla faceva meravigliare: per come non era una di quelle ben educate e viziose, ma come ostentava una sua femminilità col sorriso pieno di gentilezza; e perfino una lieve trascuratezza nei suoi vestiti (che del resto controbilanciava quel che si avrebbe potuto chiamare troppa «ambizione nel vestirsi» con una frescha noncuranza nelle sue attività giovanili del suo giorno), persino una macchia di sporco, non poteva distrarre da uno stile ben pensato, da una sicurezza nel vantarsi dei suoi punti più forti.

Il mantello sulla schiena era ornato con una grande coccarda, dal nastro di seta, che perfettamente corrispondeva con le sue calze di seta nera su cui senza dubbio puntava1 – seppure tutto quello, le scarpe, la calzatura, il mantello avrebbero potuto apparire in qualsiasi altra ragazza grossolano e persino goffaggine, se non fosse stato per quello squisito del loro insieme. Comunque nel suo caso erano di un decoro a righe oblique, cui linee s’incrociavano e sembravano voler distruggere ogni linearità oltre alla loro stessa, per evidenziare ancora di più un oblungo, nei suoi contorni vago riflesso latteo, che v’era disegnato dalla carne che si offriva [pulsante] sotto la stoffa scintillante. […of flesh which offers itself under the transparent silk.]

1 – E se educano le ragazze ad accavallare le gambe in questo modo come una posizione «chiave» per l’atteggiamento d’una donna in pubblico, certamente, qui, questo gesto ne trovava la sua completa giustificazione.

Block Update

elementi — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 16:31:46 +0000

Many years ago… When I am listening to I deserve it by Madonna it seems to feel again something of that wonderful creative spirit of these times. And it happened that I spontaneously added some minor characters to this font called Block and which was one of the results of researching a new font bibliotheque for Vogue Italy. Regarding these fonts it is difficult to exactly describe what was part of their distinction, their character that they should represent. Certainly it is kind of a geometric simplicity, a certain linearity but also with something that Luca Stoppini would have called “cattiveria” in Italian language. Something that for certain verses “bites”, that bit of eccentricity which is so important for fashion design. Over the years and how it is quite natural gaining more experience and handiness with doing font design I evolved away from that kind of spirit in my font creations, but sometimes it’s just fun to return a little. Here it is. To be continued…