2024-01-06 18:22:33
Friday, January 5, 2024 | Updated 01/06/2024 5:22 p.m.
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The shape of one of the pieces of El Peine del Viento inspires an ‘e’. The Arch of Liberty generates the ‘a’. From the Praise of the Horizon the ’eme’ is born. And so on. “In each sculpture by Eduardo Chillida we end up seeing letter shapes,” the Catalan designer Marc Blanes now confesses. Thus he created his studio, located in Barcelona, a complete alphabet based on the art of the San Sebastian sculptor.
It is a typeface that makes its public debut today, in the special supplement that El Diario Vasco dedicates to the centenary of Chillida. The headlines and other design elements of the publication, which is delivered free today with the newspaper, are made with the Chillida typeface. “For us it is a pride to see that work published on such a special occasion,” explains Blanes, “because we also conceived that typography as a tribute to such a renowned artist who created a great work that is both geometry and abstraction.”
The complete alphabet created by Marc Blanes’ studio from Chillida’s sculptures and used today in the DV special.
Blanes set up his own studio in 2020 after working for a time in the prominent team of designer Mario Eskenazi. “The objective, both in a digital and physical environment, is to find a concept that provides projects with a graphic system through minimal expression, with a special dedication to typography,” says its website as a declaration of principles of the form of work. Other professionals also work at Marc Blanes Studio, such as Clara Faner, who is co-author of the Chillida project.
The origin of this typography that illustrates the DV supplement today has to do with sport, like the sculptor’s own career, Real Sociedad goalkeeper in his younger years. “At the time we did the branding and graphic design of the Barcelona marathon, with a typography that was also very conceptual based on the urban drawing of Barcelona’s Eixample, so characteristic,” explains Blanes. «The same company as the Barcelona marathon organized the San Sebastián marathon, and we also prepared a special typeface for Donostia. At first we considered ideas based on La Concha or the sea… but we soon realized that the image of Donostia is closely linked to Chillida’s work. It is not just the famous Comb of the Wind: Chillida’s shapes refer to the shapes of the city, and we plan to generate a new typography with that Chillidian inspiration,” he adds.
Letters ‘married’ with the sculptures. ‘The arc of freedom’, which inspires the A. The E ‘is born’ from the Comb of the Wind and the M created from the ‘praise of the horizon’.
Thus the work began. As the Catalan designer jokes, “in each sculpture we saw letters, in an almost obsessive way, and without having to force things, the complete alphabet emerged based on his works.”
The work was completed in 2022 and the proposal can be consulted on the studio’s own website, marcblanes.es. It is presented like this: «Finalist proposal for the emblematic Zurich San Sebastián Marathon. Design of a unique typography for the event in homage to Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), Spanish sculptor and engraver known for his works in iron and concrete. Marc Blanes and Clara Faner signed the project with Miqui Cerdà as copywriter.
But the project did not go ahead in the marathon: the organization of the event opted for Basque designers and Chillida’s typography remained as a proposal waiting for better times.
«La Concha and the sea are references of Donostia, but the shapes of Chillida refer directly to the shapes of the city»
«For us it is a pride to debut this typeface in a tribute to the sculptor like that of DV»
And thus came the initiative of El Diario Vasco. The newspaper’s Design department was aware of the Catalan studio’s proposal, contacted Blanes and reached an agreement for the Chillidian alphabet to be used in the supplement that DV publishes today, a complete approach to the world of the sculptor and his personal figure. Wednesday the 10th is the exact anniversary of the centenary, but the celebration began weeks ago and will continue in the coming days. Chillida’s work never ends.
The central days of the centenary as a ‘meeting place’
The supplement published today by El Diario Vasco in memory of Eduardo Chillida arrives in the central days of the celebration of the sculptor’s centenary. In December, the exhibition ‘Universo Maeght’ was inaugurated in Chillida Leku, with works by the great artists of the 20th century who ‘coexisted’ with Chillida in the legendary gallery and next weekend, on the 13th and 14th, the museum will be gratuitous. But it will be this Wednesday, the 10th, the exact date of the centenary, when the Victoria Eugenia theater will host the central celebration event in the afternoon.
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