Industry: Design

Typeface Design for Typotheque

Four optical sizes from a 16th-century Dutch source

Bara Grande is a loose interpretation of the Schefferletter (Enschedé English-bodied Roman No. 6), a metal type hand-set by Bram de Does in 1992 for a printing of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, itself likely dating to the early 16th century. Designed by Nikola Djurek and released by Typotheque in 2016, it is not a historical revival but a contemporary all-purpose text family drawing on Dutch Golden Age punchcutting traditions. The Grande optical size is intended for the largest sizes, sitting at the top of a four-size system alongside Caption, Text, and Display variants.

Set in Bara Grande

Insights

Optical sizes differ primarily in thick-to-thin stroke contrast and spacing rather than structural redesign.
Nine numeral variants per weight include proportional old-style (default), lining, tabular (both lining and old-style), small caps, superior, inferior, circled, and circled inverted forms.
Unusual details such as abruptly terminated strokes on 'e' and 'c' are retained from the historical metal source.
Licensees can select their preferred default numeral variant inside the font files.