A Typeface with Optical Sizes (ECAL)
Most of my life has been spent in Haifa, a city stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the summit of Mount Carmel. After moving to the hustle and bustle of Tel Aviv, the train line connecting the two cities — built on the remains of the historic railways from the British Mandate era — became my central lifeline. Palestine Railways was a government-owned company that operated between 1917 and 1948, linking Egypt, Haifa, Jordan, and even Syria. Its main routes were eventually dismantled following the establishment of the State of Israel. This railway holds a deep, somewhat haunting symbolism for me. For years, I’ve dreamed of visiting the places in Lebanon where my grandparents grew up, of reconnecting with landscapes that once felt within reach. The fact that there was a time when trains moved freely across the region — before its fragmentation — feels both powerful and painfully distant. The typeface I designed draws from this tension: the heavy industrial presence of early railways, the friction of movement and resistance, the rhythm of old steam. It’s built for signage, maps, timetables, and text — a contemporary system that nods to the past without being trapped in nostalgia.
Mentored by Kai Bernau
Photos by Visvaldas Morkevicius