by Elysse Ricci

‘If you want to do something new, you must look at the past.’

After having finished our week one projects in Venice, feeling a great sense of accomplishment, we headed to Rome. Following a long night of well deserved sleep, we headed to our new school where the success of our first day of class in the city paved the way to an inspirational kick off to our second project.

Mauro Zennaro lead a conversation touching on everything from typeface development born from old inscriptions and Roman letters to the fascinating history of Rome itself and how it has influenced his work. Being a self-proclaimed lover of condensed fonts, my jaw dropped in hearing him explain the development behind the very first typeface of this kind. Having originated in an advertisement painted on a wall in Pompei, to my surprise this type had not been condensed for aesthetic reasons, instead it was used to save space. After learning this and many other things we type enthusiasts need to add to our bibles, we ventured into the city to see old inscriptions and letterforms that have influenced typography and a lot of the digital fonts we know today.

I was reminded of a quote from an old greek inscription Mauro showed us within the classroom, it read ‘FINITDOGRATAS,’ Finished, thank god. Needless to say, I walked back to the hotel from a day of feeling the exact opposite of that.