P22 Graciosa is a five font family based upon designs for a metal type by Carlos Winkow (1882–1952), a German type designer who lived and worked in Spain in the early 20th Century. Graciosa is a sort of hybrid blackletter/text font, with simplified blackletter caps and a serifed lowercase with subtle script flare. There is a Regular, Black, an open version called White, and an engraved version called Gris. The version called Multi serves as a fill font to allow for multi-colored layering options.
A revival of these designs was initiated by Matthias Beck in 2015. The character set was expanded for use in 21 languages (OpenType Standard). The digitization and reintroduction of these old fonts—created in Spain and practically forgotten—makes them regain a new life.
As we discovered the history of these fonts, we recovered a full chivalete of old lead typefaces in an old printing press in Tenerife, and among them, a great treasure for us: 10 drawers of Graciosa and Graciosa Gris in all sizes.
Former lead fonts created in Spain and almost forgotten, acquired now a new life. The rise of new information technology opens a new field for these sources and allows us to expand their function indefinitely, creating new ways to use them, while democratizing by making them accessible.
We distribute these typographic via the P22 typefoundry to share this treasure with you all.
Special thanks to Andreu Balius and Jose Ramón Panela for their support and advice in this project.
This project was subsidized by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
