Vitamin Sea

Client: Sea tapes
Project: Custom lettering
Year: 2018

Sea tapes is а page about literature, sea, waves, boats and stories. The main idea of Sea tapes (Морски записи) is to get people to read a little bit more. What you see here is the mark for Sea tapes we consented on with the client. While sketching we had a clean and simple design in mind. However, this does not mean the final result is devoid of meaning and depth. We incorporated the key symbolic references associated with the brand: two flying seagulls and a setting sun; view from a ship cabin’s window; sea waves; detail of a fast handwritten note; the letters М & З. All this packed into a memorable and recognisable logo.

The character of the letters is informal and based on handwriting. We used fluid forms and the appropriate ligatures to emulate a quick note. For the same reason we did not keep an absolutely uniform x-height and we interweaved slight variation in slant angles as well as in the base line. These details bring the digital drawing closer to human writing and differentiate lettering from font.

The idea of our first proposal was to come up with as much ligatures as we can. This serves two purposes: (A) to achieve a handwritten feel and (B) to get shapes reminiscent of stylised sea water surface at the base line. This is more clearly visible in the second word. Additionally, we incorporated the shape of a breaking wave into the two initials of the brand name. The overall look of the lettering is intended to give you that nostalgic time-off feel associated with the sea.

Fine quality objects for fine quality living

Client: Fine Arc
Project: Branding
Year: 2018

We did this logotype a while back for our friends at Fine Arc Studio. They are a young couple of talented artists and glass workers with an eye for fine design. Their concept is that every material has its own attributes and depending on the project they choose what is most suitable for their expression. Be sure to check out their work.

Grafema LC

Grafema LC is a system of display typefaces consisting of 7 variants – upright, italic, textured, filled, rough, traditional contrast and inverted. Grafema LC started off as handwritten calligraphic works using a flat brush and variable angles of writing – 35° and 85°. It supports Extended Latin and Extended Cyrillic – more than 120 languages altogether. The balanced natural texture along with unique details makes Grafema LC perfect for headlines, but also suitable for lengthier texts. It is ideal for use in all kinds of graphic design projects such as the packaging, posters, logotypes, greeting cards and of course online content.

Grafema 35 has a more classical angle of writing – 35°, which makes the vertical stems of the letters broader since they utilize most of the instrument’s width. This cut is balanced throughout and suitable for large bodies of text.

Grafema 85 stands out with its more decorative appearance and is more appropriate for usage in headlines, posters and all projects created with a personal touch. The angle of writing shifts the stress immensely and therefore reforms the overall proportions of the letter. This style is more condensed than the other and is easily distinguishable with its thin vertical stems and accentuated heavy serifs.

Both main weights of the Grafema family are distributed freely as demo versions for use by students and designers as well as everyone who has an interest in calligraphy and typography. The free fonts contain a basic set of uppercase and lowercase letters solely in Cyrillic and more precisely its Bulgarian local forms. You will also find standard lining figures and basic punctuation in the fonts’ palettes.

Светли празници

(Bright holidays)

We were invited by Superhosting.bg to create a unique Christmas holiday greeting card for their special customers and friends. We started off with a lot of pencil drawings, of course, and then did the necessary precision digitization. We also had the task of managing production – we searched for the most appropriate paper stock and hot foil. The printing itself was done by inkpression – a studio focused on foiling, embossing, and letterpress. And we have to say it was a pleasure collaborating with them.
The final touch was the personalized handwritten inscriptions on the back of each greeting card. We did a total of 50 different wishes, all done with golden ink. The greeting card was a complementary element to a jar full of handmade chocolate candies made by Delifideli.

We design the typographics for the t-shirts and have them screen printed on 100% organic cotton. We do not sew them on our own, however, we do stitch on the labels ourselves. We have several sizes and colours available. Feel free to write to us if you are interested in purchasing some for you and your close ones. Stay tuned for more designs soon.

Laptev Brush

is a single weight experimental typeface inspired by old Venetian type and realized as a humanistic Grotesk based on writing with round pointed brush.

The idea is for it to become part of a series of fonts which contain solely Cyrillic letters in their Bulgarian form. To sustain this they will be distributed free of charge in order to promote and encourage the use of Bulgarian Cyrillic.

The occasion for the creation of this typeface is the anniversary catalogue made for the 60th anniversary of the painter Rumen Laptev (1957 - 2013).

The rough texture contrasting with the elegant letterforms is a refference to his work. The font is used for the headlines and large quotes but its high legibility makes it perfect for small long texts.

Plovdiv Typeface Workshop

We are honored to have taken part in such a large and meaningful project. Studio Punkt invited us to hold a workshop for Plovdiv Typeface. 

We started off with a lecture on handwriting, its graphological aspects and how that translated into penmanship. Later on everyone had the chance to try and experiment with different calligraphic tools and styles. 

A big thanks to all the participants for their interest and concentration to write by hand.

Don’t forget to download the free font package Plovdiv typeface.

Thanks to Rosina Pencheva for the awesome photos!

Pleasure of slow food

Client: Delivino
Project: Lettering & Branding
Year: 2019

An Italian deli store based in Umbria, open since 1968. Delivino offers typical local delicacies particularly extra-virgin olive oil, wine, truffles, legumes, cheeses, and cured meats, including organic ones. The client wanted to have a unique logotype with a natural character based on lettering. We also had to design a small set of icons to match and we did basic stationery branding. If you are planning to travel to Italy, don’t miss to check the region of Umbria and Delivino`s delicacies.

What a fine specimen

Self-initiated
Project: Grafema Type Specimen
Year: 2020

24 pages showcasing our calligraphy based typeface - Grafema LC. First edition of 20 copies designed and handbound in-house. Covers were screenprinted on 200 gsm white paper by @Dzhingibi at nopointatelier and each one is unique.

Printed on 80 gsm offset coloured paper. Stitched with a sturdy 100% cotton thread in reflex blue.

Get yours for just €10 shipped anywhere. Postage quotes upon request. For orders just drop us a message.

Your friendly neighborhood creamery

Client: Млекарницата на чичо Минчо
(Uncle Mincho’s dairy shop)
Project: Logo design and signpainting.
Year: 2020

Probably one of our quickest commissioned projects to date. This one is a logotype for a small shop selling bio products from independent farmers. No big brands here, just healthy clean produce. It was required of us to make the logo with a rustic and old-timer feel. Since we were working on a budget, we put custom marks and letterings aside and focused on the general typographic composition using ready-made typefaces.

We had the pleasure of doing this window painting on the storefront of the little shop located in Lozenets district, Sofia. We did the logotype in the middle of the summer of 2020 and soon after had the chance to bring it to life. It was a lovely sunny day of pouncing and painting the lettering on the shop window. The happy faces and cheers of the local friends and customers and above all the shop owner himself were most rewarding.

Staying sane

Client: Dravkulki
Project: Custom lettering
Year: 2020

This awesome brand is run by an even awesome lady who designs, prototypes, and manufactures these super cool accessories made out of plywood. She approached us with the proposal to collaborate on a limited edition series of her cardholders – compact and minimal substitutes for a conventional wallet with engraved fronts and backs. Needless to say, we were instantly on board with the idea.

The first series is strongly influenced by the pandemic and the need to lift our spirits in any way possible. Together we came up with a few inspiring words each of which aims to serve as a motivational message every time you look at the cardholder. The lettering pieces we worked on depict the concepts of FREEDOM, BALANCE, PATIENCE, and DON'T PANIC. These are intended for sale in Bulgaria, so the designs are written in Cyrillic script. For all of you unable to read or understand the engravings, we added transcription and translation of the word on the back.

The second series is somewhat tied to the depiction of Freedom from the first series. Here we started with a design we had already made for our Bezier Club clothing line – PIRIN, а mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria. That started the Bulgarian mountains series and along came RILA, RODOPA, and VITOSHA. All favourite places of ours with Vitosha being the closest to us – a half an hour's drive from the studio. For all of you mountain lovers, we added a topographic map of each of the highest peaks together with transcription and translation of its name.

Be sure to have a look at all of DRAVKULKI's products.
Photography: DRAGA PHOTOGRAPHY

Blackwork

Client: Self initiated
Project: Sign painting
Year: 2021

This was one of the last projects we made while we still had our studio on Karnigradska str. and one of our projects that became part of the exhibition Without an audience by Rosina Pencheva. She captured the process of creating a hand-painted sign for a tattoo parlor – from the initial sketch, its digitisation, and transferring onto glass. We also crafted the metal frame for the glass to sit in - a simple structure from cut and welded angle iron. We did not have access to quality enamels for glass at this time and used an acrylic-based paint and basic flat brushes along with spray paint. Lesson learned.

The root of happiness

Client: Self initiated
Project: Exhibition
Year: 2021

Altruist is a cosy urban café in the heart of Sofia where we had the opportunity to showcase some of our non-client work during the first wave of the Covid-19 nonsense. Some of our pieces from previous shows were ready to display, however, we felt it'd be cool to create something fresh just for the occasion. Since at that time most of us were isolated and worked from home, we decided to work on two separate projects, both in the field each one of us was currently comfortable with.

Tozzi went with the fabrication of a LED lamp with a steel frame in the shape of an аsterisk*. Handmade from start to finish – cut, welded, wired, and assembled in his home workshop. This piece now resides with Mirela Belova (Type Forward foundry).

Jacky chose to work on calligraphy experiments using masking fluid, ink, flat brushes, and a ruling pen on paper. The result was a series of framed 50 × 70 cm works. All sold out.

Nostalgae

Client: AquaSource
Project: Custom typeface
Year: 2021

Klamath script is a handwritten font developed exclusively for AquaSource for use by all its branches worldwide for on and offline communication. We had the pleasure of working with this British brand which produces natural products for beauty and wellness with blue-green algae from Upper Klamath lake.

The typeface supports Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic, featuring Bulgarian local form. We did a lot of research on natural handwritten forms, especially for Greek script which was a first for us and our studio. The weapons of choice for this project were the Pigma™ FB brush pen from Sakura, Adobe Illustrator, and Glyphs 3.

Collaborative urbanism

Client: Tooltest Day
Project: Logo, lettering & pictograms
Year: 2022

Tooltest Day is a platform dedicated to collaborative development of the Placemaking Europe network’s Toolbox. Its core is about rapid prototyping of simple placemaking solutions within the framework of tactical urbanism, short-timed, pressure cooker actions on the ground followed (or initiated) by webinars. The aim is to test the tools on the ground in different contexts and collect the data and feedback of everyone participating.

We were commissioned to create a logo design consisting of 2 parts – a mark and custom lettering to go with it. As well as a set of pictograms.
The emblem is based on several separate ideas:
• A human with 3 heads symbolises a group of people who think/work/act together, or in other words – collaboration;
• Ellipsis (...) – as a symbol for to be continued, namely – results/development/further work/ideas;
• A workbench/solid table on which people can (symbolically or physically) meet, share thoughts and ideas, sketch, doodle, discuss and make decisions;
• Аn encircling shape around the symbol tо further emphasize the sense of community/team/togetherness.

The overall aesthetic of the letterforms is a subtle mix of “technical” and “humanistic”, exactly what the mark’s idea and construction were intended to convey.

Under one roof

Client: Theater 199
Project: Logo redesign
Year: 2021

A logo redesign and custom lettering for a lovely theatre in the heart of Sofia, founded in the summer of 1965. Its name comes from the number of seats which were available then (those have decreased since). That is why the hall's first logo depicted a roof and the number 199. 

Our objective was to preferably keep the roof element and incorporate it into the new design. That is precisely what we did, additionally involving some more visual metaphors and introducing depth to the idea. The digits 1-9-9 become the front row seats or the heads of the spectators sitting in them, or the actors on the stage lit by on overhead spotlight. The same triangle shifts into an arrow pointing upwards and together with the bottom heavy composition of the elements work as a representation of the underground (literally) nature of the theatre's hall. A black box around the elements serves as a depiction of the dark auditorium when a performance is unfolding.

Apart from the logomark itself, we designed custom lettering for both the title of the theater and its name Valentin Stoychev – in commemoration of its long-term director who managed the establishment from 1991 until his passing in 2007.

I'll drink to that

Client: Synthesis
Projects: Logo and menu design
Year: 2022

This one was exciting!
Synthesis combines a bar and the collections of distinct photographers displaying their works in the gallery in the very heart of Sofia, both joined with Photosynthesis – a famous shop for photographic equipment and print house. What started as a logo refresh turned to be a menu redesign in two languages which included its production.
First off was the logotype. It reflects the random (in a good way) feel of the bar's interior, the variety of objects, materials and colours inside, the diverse people that are gathered day all year round, and the cosy and imperfect overall setting.

No pressure

Jacky has always wanted to create a casual handwritten font which contains Cyrillic alongside Latin. Now that the time has finally come to design one it even comes with two masters so you can control the slant angle on the go. A variable casual – how cool is that?

Intended to use in large sizes and is perfect for when in need of a classic laid-back headline with a relaxed and warm feeling.

In case this typeface spikes your interest we might even develop a lowercase to match the caps, why not.

The current version supports all basic Latin and Cyrillic uppercase characters, as well as numerals, and the essential set of punctuation and symbols.

The illustration was created by dzhingibi

Gameloft Workshop

Jackie had the pleasure of being invited to lead a calligraphy workshop with the lovely people from Gameloft Sofia.

We started off with a lecture on basic concepts and methods in calligraphy and typography. We measured the x-height against different tool widths and we tried different writing slants. Later on, everyone did a great job using the flat brush to write classic strokes as well as some experimentations.

A big thanks to all participants for their interest and concentration to write by hand. And for the awesome drawings, too.

Thanks to Marta Radeva for organising the event.

Калиграфия за деца

Аз пиша красиво на Кирилица!

Инструмент: кръгъл флумастер

Подходящо за всякакви възрасти.

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Работилницата цели да запознае децата с българската (обла) форма на Кирилица. Ще пишем заедно печатни и ръкописни букви от нашата азбука и ще експериментираме с декорации и украсни форми.

Продължителност: 1 час

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Всички материали, необходими за работилницата, ще бъдат осигурени и са включени в цената. Има ограничен брой места и е задължително да запазите място.

Водещ: Жаклина Жекова
Адрес: Бизнес парк София, сграда 7