Emtype Foundry

Self-taught type designer Eduardo Manso is originally from Argentina but runs his one-man foundry, Emtype, in Barcelona, Spain. “My interest in type design grew gradually,” he said in his 2013 Creative Characters interview. “I think it is unavoidable, when you love fonts and use them in excess, that you eventually cross the line and become a type designer.”

Each of Eduardo’s typefaces take a considerable amount of time to mature, and it shows: they are all thoughtful, original and well-wrought. “When you accept that designing a font is a long term activity,” he said, “it all becomes clear. It’s normal to spend several days drawing a ‘g’ or an ‘s,’ and it is also normal that three months later you no longer like it. So, we need time to design, time to leave it in a drawer, time to go back to it and finally time to redraw it over and over.” Several of his designs have been published through ITC, Bitstream, [T-26 ] and Linotype.

Rather than responding to passing trends, Emtype publishes fonts that are aimed at enjoying a long shelf-life. One of his most popular typefaces, Geogrotesque, has been on the best sellers list since its 2008 debut. “Geogrotesque was born to answer my own question. I’m really proud of it because it’s simple but has a bit of personality, just enough to be original, but not so much as to be unusable.”

An organizer of a major annual get-together for type designers, ATypI, Eduardo is committed to nourishing international typographic culture. “I think that in a globalized world it has become ever more difficult to speak of national identity in matters of design and typography,” he said. “The most important thing that a type designer has is their reputation, so it is better to wait and publish when you are absolutely sure about your typeface. It is the philosophy that I follow now and I believe.”