Please Don’t Forget Aldo Novarese
In the early nineties, design historians had re-discovered the long forgotten graphic design history. After this long period of glossy manuals, where design history hasn’t been written, but shown, in the last few years designers have decided to take the matter into their own hands. A new history of revivals began with countless exhibitions on this-or-that, accompanied by myriads of independent publications and, as the latest trend inescapably dictates, hundreds of re-designs of long forgotten fonts.
One of the latest musts in the typographers’ field is Recta, a bit goofy Italian contribution to the sans serif families of the sixties. The prolific designer of the above mentioned 1958 font is Aldo Novarese.
Aldo Novarese has worked for almost all of his life for Nebiolo foundry in Torino. In forty years of passionate dedication he has created more than one hundred fonts, existing not only as sketches, but entire families of characters, alongside of two books and a well known character classification.
In 2011‚ Canada Type foundry digitalized Recta, which immediately became a graphic must, and Aldo Novarese a worshipped hero. In the meanwhile the Italians haven’t yet realized the importance of this master. Not even a single word has recently been heard about him, only a few design students can accidentally see his name while flipping through the old glossy ‘international’ design manuals. Hopefully they’ll soon realize that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
