St Croce
6 OTF
This typeface is based on worn-out lettering on tombstones in the St. Croce Basilica in Florence. For hundreds of years, microscopic particles of marble are being carried away on the soles of visitors: the embossed figures become fossilized white clouds, fragments of inscriptions are nearing the limits of legibility. First missing are thin joins and serifs, then the main strokes finally slowly diminish into nothingness over time. Unlike an archaeologist, for whom even a completely featureless stele is valuable, the typographer must capture the proper moment of wear, when the type is not too “new” but also not too much decimated.
Such a typeface is usable for catalogs, book jackets, invitations and posters.