Contrafonts

Somewhere between a type foundry and a workshop, Contrafonts is run by Joaquín Contreras Soto — a Chilean designer who makes typefaces and musical instruments from a small village in Germany. His work has two flavours. One is precise: unitisation, modular grids, the long tradition of European and North American type design. The other is earthier — political posters, calligraphic manuscripts, the hand-painted lettering of Latin American streets. He works in the interval between them.