I attended Typecon last year as well and it was great. You can read my report from the 2025 edition on my website.

I love type, but I LOVE maps, ever since I started diving into the world atlas my grandparents owned. When I read on the Atypi conference program that they were offering a visit to the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford I reserved a ticket immediately: the tour did not disappoint.

David Rumsey has been collecting maps for more than 35 years and in 2016 he donated them all to the university. Digitization of the collection began in 1996 and there are now over 149,000 items online, scanned at incredible resolution. You can browse the archive from your computer: atlases, globes, wall maps, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials, from 1550 to present, from all over the globe.

The main room had an exhibition about subway maps from all over the world and the central table had some unique examples from the collection, like this pre-google street view:

Evan Thornberry, our guide and head curator of the map center, said «You all like letters, right? Let me show you this new feature of our online map archive». You can search the catalogue by any word and it will show EVERY INSTANCE where that word occurs on the entire map collection. Left me speechless. Librarians are the best people.

You can then click on the preview and see the entire map. And zoom in. I am sorry for your coworkers/partners/pets/kids as you will probably spend way too much time browsing around. I know I did—still doing it—but it’s so worth it.

You can read both volumes of the publication here (but in black and white). A nice way to celebrate the historic Italian publisher Hoepli that recently had to close the large bookstore in the center of Milan. I spent so many afternoons there browsing books I couldn’t afford. Nobody ever complained.

Will pick a map from the collection for every future newsletter, there are simply too many to cover here.

Sometimes we are just lucky. When I started working at Studio Matthews 6 (six!!?!) years ago I had no idea that the best and coolest coffee place in town was just a couple of blocks from the office (thank you Nicole for the introduction!).
Porchlight Coffee and Records was opened 17 years ago by Zack Bolotin, who also runs Porchlight Design and Co. He is an amazing illustrator, an extremely talented photographer, and a great human. Bonus points because his coffee is so good that when I get it elsewhere I am disappointed most of the time.

His coffee shop has become my happy place on the way to the office: when you move to a new city you have to find your own little things that make you feel you belong. Mine include stopping by Porchlight for a coffee and chats with Zack or Jesse, the other barista. Zack has great taste and an amazing collection of posterss, that rotate every month. Some for sale, some from his personal collection.

But that is not all: Zack makes books, and the latest one is a collection of street sign photos he took over the years. I have it and you can too, you can order online!
Good Signs by Zack Bolotin,
$39 from Porchlight Design and Co.

Porchlight can exist because there is a community that still prefers human connection, that doesn’t buy presents from Amazon, that prefers to walk a couple of blocks more to support the local coffee shop instead of a corporation. Have you found your Porchlight where you live?

I’ve recently learnt that this saying exists: «The coolest thing after sliced bread». Which left me very puzzled because to me sliced bread is barely bread and definitely not cool. Maybe I am too Italian to appreciate it.

I’ve been trying to use the beautiful Action Condensed by Letterror for a wayfinding project, but without success. I was looking for expressive but compact numbers, and to me that was the perfect typeface. I’ve found recently I am using variable fonts more: they work well for signage, as you can adjust the weight specifically for the size. Unfortunately the client didn’t love it.

A few days ago I got Letterror’s newsletter where they were announcing a way broader family: Action Grotesque. And it looks gorgeous. Go check out their redesigned website, entirely set in Action Grotesque. Maybe the broader family will meet the client’s taste, or maybe I’ll find another project for it. In the meantime it's added to the list.

I love flowers but one of my pet peeves is getting annoyed by ugly flower arrangements. So here is a new section of the newsletter, since I couldn’t find someone already collecting those. Thanks to Silvio Lorusso whoa posted the image. You should follow him on Instagram—he’s one of the few reasons I am still enjoying that platform, sometimes—and also read his books (More on that some other time).

First entry of Ugly Flowers:
Enzo Mari’s Ecolo project for Alessi, 1995. The Nineties were great for some things and awful for others.

Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching

The brothers Owen and Quentin Reiser decide to compete for the most birds spotted in the Lower 48 (states of the US) in a calendar year without knowing anything about birding, or any money. It’s funny, smart, silly, hilarious, warm: you’ll laugh with them on their trips up and down the US, you’ll learn some stuff, but most of all at the end you’ll have a little more faith in humanity. «We decided to keep it on YouTube for free. I like the idea that a homeless guy can walk into a library somewhere and watch it, you know? And people have been donating money if they like it, like that value-for-value model, and I like that better than some rich guy in Hollywood taking 65 percent of the sale to HBO, and they have no connection to nature». I encourage you to give them $10, cheaper than a movie ticket, if you enjoy it. Believe me, you will.

Further reading:
—A review on Slate
—Interview on Audubon Magazine (read it, it’s great)
—Article on The Atlantic «But underneath the stoner hijinks (and legitimately stunning wildlife videography), Listers is a serious film about the meaning that hobbies can provide to our lives, and the corrupting influence of smartphone apps on our leisure activities».

The Great Pottery Throw Down

I attended my first pottery gathering a few months ago thanks to my friend and talented artist Evgeniya Plotnikova. My first two attempts were so much fun I’ll enroll in a course in the fall (Are they any good? No. Does it matter? Also no). In the meantime I’ve been binging the show that meshes the kindness—and innuendos—of British Bake Off with clay, glazes, and design. I love watching how different artists interpret a brief—design geek as I am. And the judge Keith Brymer Jones gets emotional every time someone does something outstanding. Big yes to tears of joy for other people’s crafts! Also Brad Pitt's favorite show, if that is your thing.

Creation Myth, CBC

After 8 episodes of her podcast, I wish Helena De Groot were my friend. The Belgian radio producer put together a unique audio project where we follow her through the chaos of rebuilding her life in the US after having moved there for love, questioning her decision of not having kids, all the way to reflecting on the meaning of life. The result is a very honest and extremely brave podcast. We need more women’s voices. (Thank you to my favorite podcasts newsletter Orecchiabile for recommending it.)

I joined some friends to go see Christopher Nolan’s latest movie the weekend it opened: so many positive reviews! I left the movie theater quite puzzled: once again I did not agree with the hype. The best explanation of why I didn’t—beside a general tiredness of dudes fighting or smashing stuff—is this review by professor Emily Wilson: «An uncomplicated man». Be ready for an extremely well written and ironic dissection of the movie, by someone who knows a lot about the book: she translated Seneca and Euripides as well as both the Iliad and the Odyssey. She wrote many memorable sentences in that piece, but my favorite is «There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible».

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That is all for now. Thank you for your time! Comments are welcome, I am always happy to hear from you.
A presto, talk soon
Marta