TDC conference explores “enormous” scope of Latin American typography

As in 2022, when Type Directors Club (TDC) bought us the first-ever conference dedicated to Native North American typography, the organisation begins 2023 with the announcement that it will hold another Type Drive Culture Conference, this time focusing on Latin American typography. Running this March, Cha Che Chi is a two-day virtual event curated by Sol Matas, a Berlin-based type designer originally from Argentina and a member of the TDC advisory board, and Laura Scofield, a Brazilian-born, New York-based designer, strategist and educator.

As Sol points out, “The scope of Latin American communities is enormous, and spread over a vast geography including the diaspora”. But this means Cha Che Chi presents a “unique forum for the design and typographic communities to explore cultures that aren’t often gathered on the same stage,” Sol continues. According to a release, the name Cha Che Chi comes from a common alliteration that across languages, “connects the cultures of the continent, serving as a thread amongst very diverse people”.

Some of the styles and design histories the conference will cover includes a logotype that “dances to the beat of Rio Carnival” and the political origins of Pichação, a distinct and nearly entirely typographic form of Brazilian graffiti.

The conference launches with branding from Nubia Navarro of Nubikini Studio; among other things, it is inspired by aguayo cloth, street lettering traditions and ingenuity under limited resources.

Speakers at Cha Che Chi include Eduarda Nieto, senior designer at AKQA Sweden; Fred Gelli, CEO at Tátil Design; Julia A. Aguiar and Carlos Bocai, cofounders at Anywhere; lettering artist and designer Cyla Costa and Laureano Menéndez, head of design at BBDO Argentina. Registration is now open for Cha Che Chi, running 3-4 March, here.