Krulleletters and Bruin Cafes in Amsterdam

Abstract

This article addresses lettering and signpainting as an important element of visual culture. Following the model of scholarly studies grounded in typographic and architectural history, the article focuses on a set of Amsterdam shop signs painted in a style identified as Krulleletters ("curly letters"), typically associated with the city's bruin cafes ("brown cafes"). The analysis presents this elegant writing as related to a local tradition, and positions it within its social and cultural context in order to explain its visual relevance. Broadly based on Dutch Mannerist calligraphy of the seventeenth century, the Krulleletters appeared for the first time in the early 1950s, probably the creation of lettering artist J.W.J. Visser. The style was soon A typographer, author and translator, Alessandro Colizzi teaches typography and graphic design history at the Université du Québec à Montréal. His interests include typographic history, type design and lettering and information design. He is completing a Ph.D.