to use in
plein
cagnard1
Matorral
This font can stay up under the blazing sun.
- Art Direction:
Bureau Brut
- Typeface design:
Yoann Minet
- Design date:
2016
- Published by:
Bureau Brut
- Initial release:
2019
- Current version:
2.1
Not a drop beads at the end of its endings: the a, like the c, is pruned at the tip. Like the centennial olive trees of the Mediterranean that grow in arid land, its appearance is shaped, stocky, packed. Matorral is a solid character, almost mineral: a letter sculpted rather than drawn, which keeps the memory of gesture.1
Its design, inspired by typefaces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, explores the tensions between tradition and modernity.2 This era, marked by the Industrial Revolution, saw the birth of several artistic movements3 that seek new forms by turning towards nature. Here, however, it is not a lush nature that inspires the Matorral, but an arid landscape, almost extreme: a wild nature that clings regardless of the conditions, even in the face of climate change.
Its compact proportions give it a substantial x-height, but the Matorral has been optimized for common text composition: moderate contrasts, thickened reliefs, and a wide range of weights.
- The origin of Matorral was a unique weight for the identity of the Pottery Museum de La Borne. It is a robust creation with modeled shapes, which evokes the manual work of the artisan.
- Matorral borrows some details from them, the t of the Ehmcke Antiqua character (Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, Flinsch, 1908) and the R of the Caxton Old Style (William F. Capitain, Marder, Luse & Co., 1889).
- For example Arts & Crafts in England, Art Nouveau in France, or Jugendstil in Germany.
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