Calenza Typeface Draws Inspiration from Valencia's Ceramic Street Signs
Olivier Gourvat, founder of Mostardesign Type Foundry, has released Calenza, a typeface inspired by Valencia's blue ceramic street signs. The signs were first installed after a 1902 competition to improve legibility. Gourvat spent years studying the hand-modeled ceramic letters, which exhibited dozens of variations due to artisan inconsistencies. Rather than digitizing history, he identified the underlying design logic. Calenza includes Condensed and Compressed styles derived from how signmakers squeezed letters to fit long street names. A companion style, Calenza Poster, preserves eccentric letters that appeared only once or twice. The typeface treats history as a design partner, not a mood board.
Key facts
- Calenza was created by Olivier Gourvat of Mostardesign Type Foundry.
- Mostardesign Type Foundry is an independent French type foundry founded in 2009.
- The typeface is inspired by Valencia's blue ceramic street signs.
- The street signs were first installed after a 1902 competition.
- Gourvat studied the hand-modeled ceramic letters for years.
- Calenza includes Condensed and Compressed styles.
- Calenza Poster preserves rare eccentric letterforms.
- The typeface is not a revival but a reinterpretation of design logic.
Entities
Artists
- Olivier Gourvat
Institutions
- Mostardesign Type Foundry
- PRINT Magazine
Locations
- Valencia
- Spain