2021 Typography retreat in Penedès

September 2021

Travel was impossible in 2020, so our annual team meeting in person was sadly canceled. All the more we cherished the possibility to finally be able to gather at a work retreat in the invigorating location of Vallfort in August 2021. We enjoyed the fabulous landscape, being surrounded by vineyards of the Penedés wine region in Cataluña, Spain, and were able to accomplish a lot together.

 

The 2021 meeting was a special one. The TypeTogether team is spread around the world, from Kansas to Beijing. During the year we take advantage of the Internet-based tools to meet online and discuss everyday tasks and projects. However, personal interaction cannot be replaced by the online-only world — as we all have learned this past year. So every year, we meet at least once in person in a relaxing environment to work, of course, but also to share space, time, and experiences that helps us grow as a team.



From left to right, top: Cecilia Brarda, Anya Danilova, Roxane Gataud, Nina Faulhaber, Joancarles Casasín, Veronika Burian, José Scaglione, Elena Veguillas, and Rino de Dino, Linda Kudrnovská, Joshua Farmer and Tiki the Traveler. Bottom left to right: Canela the dog, Rabab Charafeddine, and Azza Alameddine. 


 

Our 2020 meeting, planned to be in Faro, Portugal, had to be cancelled just like everyone else’s plans during the pandemic. We could not meet safely until September 2021. Unfortunately, because of travel restrictions and safety, not everyone could join, and we had to limit the interactions to the minimum. Having the safety aspect covered, we met in the Penedès area in Catalunya, close to Tarragona.

In addition to TypeTogether’s core team (Azza Alameddine, Cecilia Brarda, Elena Veguillas, Joancarles Casasín, José Scaglione, Joshua Farmer, Linda Kudrnovská, Rabab Charafeddine, Roxane Gataud, Veronika Burian), we were joined by Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer and Filip Blazek. It was great to also be joined by the two recent winners of the Gerard Unger Scholarship: Anya Danilova (Rezak, 2020) and Nina Faulhaber (Aeroplane, 2021). Of course, a TypeTogether meeting cannot go without mascots: Tiki the Traveler is now a regular, we welcomed the newly arrived Rino de Dino, and there was also an unexpected visitor, Canela the neighbourhood dog.

The five-day meeting went very quickly, mixing sessions about everyday work, debates about the company’s future, type critiques, and presentations of existing projects. Joancarles had time to explain to the team in more depth several production aspects of mastering typefaces, discussing possible improvements to our current workflow. Rainer gave a presentation on the new features of Glyphs 3 and was available to dig deeper into technical details especially with Joancarles. Cecilia showed the possibilities of motion graphics, and we had the chance to participate in her storyboard workshop. Elena presented her ongoing (but closer to the end) PhD research about architectural lettering and corporate identity. And Nina and Anya made short presentations on their upcoming typefaces.

There was time for much more: good food (including the seafood paella made by Elena and Joanca!) that we all prepared together, a ping-pong competition, a day out riding bikes, a beach morning and exploration of the area, swimming pool diving, fantastic local wine and many precious shared moments. It was a much welcome meeting after a long and challenging year. We can’t wait for the next one!










 



 








 







About Us

TypeTogether is an indie type foundry committed to excellence in type design with a focus on editorial use. Additionally, TypeTogether creates custom type design for corporate use. We invite you to browse our library of retail fonts or contact us to discuss custom type design projects.