A midcentury marvel that turned printing into improvisational art
In late 1930s Barcelona, budding designer Joan Trochut and his father Etienne set out to reimagine the centuries-old medium of letterpress for an age of speed, creative flexibility, and visual exuberance. Inspired by modern art and avant-garde printing, Joan devised a typeface unlike any other—one made of hundreds of interchangeable elements that could combine to create myriad new alphabets, charming illustrations, and an endless supply of original ornaments. Called SuperTipo Veloz (or simply Super-Veloz), the system became beloved by printers in Spain and beyond.
In this book, Alex Trochut (designer and grandson of Joan Trochut) and Andreu Balius (type designer and researcher) tell the fascinating story of Super-Veloz alongside more than 150 reproductions from the Trochuts’ albums of the 1940s and ’50s, plus never-before-seen drawings and sketches, foundry ephemera, and archival photographs. With a foreword by Alexander Tochilovsky and carefully researched guides to the reproductions, Super-Veloz is the definitive work on the twentieth-century’s most infinitely variable typeface.