Patecreme

It’s time for  Patecreme’s third interview starring mister Svetosval Simov and his Fontfabric foundry.
When discovering his fonts, you could not imagine the man behind them is only 24 years old, because of the extreme creativity, patience and experience it requires to make good looking and efficient types. And those Fontfabric types are the ones you can distinguish at the first sight.

1/ Can you make a brief description about yourself ?

My name is Svetoslav Simov and I am 24 years old, Bulgarian. I was born on the 27th of September in Novi Pazar City and up till 2003 I lived and studied in the city of Shumen. I finished my high school education in the Shumen High School majoring in Biology and Chemistry. I then decided to apply for the Technical University in Sofia.
To achieve my goal, I took intensive courses in drawing and I was eventually placed into the supplementary admission group.
I then moved to Sofia and worked actively as a designer for about three years. My job at Clipart-design.com was a very good foundation and starting point for my career and in the beginning I worked from home on various projects. The work was very intensive and for a very short period of time I accumulated a great deal of valuable knowledge and experience. This was a time when I basically built up the qualities which help me in my work today. My work then involved the design of clipart packages, icons, logos and so on. I was making an average of 100 vector images a day and on certain days, I got as far as creating as many as 250. It was at this point I began to enforce self-discipline and control regarding work habits.
I’ve been working in the “Idea” creative agency in Sofia and deal mainly with the design of fonts for the company and creation of logo brands. I am still piling on experience and am developing strong and steady.

What excites me most about my work is creation of fonts which is a source of great pleasure and inspiration for me.

You will soon have the opportunity of also seeing lots of new stuff from my work.

2/ Is Fontfabric a side project or do you plan the foundry to be your fulltime activity ?

The Fontfabric project was created at the end of 2008. Currently I am working in an advertising agency in Sofia, Bulgaria. I can devote few hours after work to create fonts. Right now I can`t  dedicate all of my time to make the typefaces, but I`m planning to do this as soon as possible, and than I`ll develop the Fontfabric into its full capacity.

3/ What is your font design process? (paper sketch, mac/pc, software)

Creating fonts is very interesting and attractive to me at one hand, and following tight the typography and design rules at the other. The fonts I am making are more conceptual kind of design than holding the boundaries. Everything

I do begins from a circle or a square in Corel Draw and a dose of inspiration, than it finishes just few hours later.

Now the whole process is digital, but when I begin to make classic typography, maybe I`ll use sketches and hand techniques.

4/ Where is your major inspiration coming from ? Other foundries you enjoy ? The design scene in Bulgaria ?

When a designer is in a certain environment, it will surely impact and shape his aesthetics and designs. I don`t remember certain sources of inspiration, but my purpose is to create typefaces, which are distinguishing from everything else and have their own image. In the beginning everything was like much fun to me – I was just playing with vector shapes and letters. Gradually it began to show that it could be a business. One of my favourite font foundries that came to my mind now is the Argentinian`s Sudtipos (http://www.sudtipos.com/). Their works are in different style from my fonts, but I often like to do things in different styles, even unlike my usual manner.
One of my goals is to include more people in the development of Fontfabric, mostly Bulgarian designers. Short time ago there was very good type designers (in Bulgaria), but they never came together in something like a font foundry.

5/ Watching your fonts, it seems you have not only type design skills, but also a special taste for illustration/art directing.
Do you have any other graphic design projects you could tell us more about ?

Till now I had cultivated skills mainly in the graphic design, more certain – developing branding and visionary for companies. This is the other field, where I believe my abilities and experience are strong. Exactly the long hours working as a logo designer had built in me routines, which are irreplaceable in the work with typefaces. At this moment I am collecting and filling my own portfolio, which I`ll publish soon.

Thanks for your time. Be sure we’ll keep our readers tuned with your newest creations.