How a re-interpretation of medieval initials would look like today

This was Eike Dingler’s point of reference upon exploring the history and reevaluation of these precious typographic elements of yesteryear. “I didn’t have the intention to stick close to the Middle Ages but instead was interested to find a way to incorporate ornament and this inspiring amount of detail from manuscripts and incurables into a nowadays appealing aesthetic form” comments the man behind Berlin-based Mauve Type, an independent small scale type foundry specialised in True Display Fonts not intended for small print – they are designed to have a distinct graphic impact in grand display typography.

He studied type design in The Hague (NL) as well as graphic design in Düsseldorf (D) and Arnhem (NL) and has worked for Typotheque type foundry (NL). He also runs a graphic design practice. Most interested in exploring the visual and conceptual possibilities of display typography, Biegel believes that working with typefaces designed for display purposes can make your life as graphic designer considerably easier, more fun and save you a lot of time while achieving better designs.

His proof? Pattern Project, Eike’s first type release which is literally an attempt to transform the dizzying and inspiring amount of detail of medieval manuscript initials into a contemporary form, a task he accomplished by setting up a database consisting of parts of circles and straight lines, that build the shapes of the letters. Then a script (fyi a small computer program) calculated and drew diverse patterns into the letters of the database. To live up to the conceptual possibilities of a generic type design, together with Tinkatinka Mr. Mauve Type built an app (for iOS only) that allows the user to design customizable patterns, set a limited amount of parameters and generate a typeface with it. 

An amazing project straight from the vault of where typography is going and where it has been. Follow Eike Dingler’s path here.