Thomas Huot-Marchand
Typographie
Design graphique

  • 2021

  • Samaritaine × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

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  • 2021

  • Samaritaine × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

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I was commissioned by Ateliers Saint-Lazare (formerly known as be-pôles) to develop the typographic brand identity of Samaritaine, a much-loved iconic edifice situated in the heart of Paris. Born 151 years ago, La Samaritaine reopened in June 2021 after a 17 years closure.

The logotype captures the spirit of historic Samaritaine signs, honoring the stylistic evolution of the landmarked building. The singular silhouette of the distinctive historic letters, are blended into the logotype and a type family. Samaritaine Sans exists in 2 cuts: the first one features historical forms, inspired by Art Deco and Art nouveau letters, and is used for the wordmark. The second one has a more modern look, for daily use.

Art Deco style

Visual dentity by Ateliers Saint-Lazare, 2021 (art Direction: Reynald Philippe).

  • 2022

  • Leïla Buecher — Posters

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  • 2022

  • Leïla Buecher — Posters

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Posters and street campaign for the opening of Leïla Buecher boutique in Barbès, Paris. Leïla Buecher is a talented and independent French jeweler.
Photos by Laurent Castellani

  • 2015

  • Le Pigalle × be pôles

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  • 2015

  • Le Pigalle × be pôles

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Le Pigalle is a hotel in the eponymous district of Paris. The agency be-poles (Paris / New York) commissioned me to create its custom typeface, which is inspired by the vernacular signs and inscriptions of this lively and typical district. Photos © Benoît Linero

  • 2023

  • La Vache qui rit

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  • 2023

  • La Vache qui rit

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Custom typeface for La Vache qui rit (Bel).
The specific triangular shape of the slices of this popular soft cheese appears in many details of the typeface (A counter, diacritics, quotes…)
Laughing fonts include a “Bounce” weight, with a special feature which makes the letters randomly wiggling on the baseline.
Commissioned by BETC Paris
Art Direction Éric Poupy

  • 2020

  • Garaje Monospace

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  • 2020

  • Garaje Monospace

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Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong. For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly wide letterforms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths and 5 weights. The complete family counts 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and zero contrast: Garaje is a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve. Garaje Monospace subfamily goes from 05015 (5 on 15 grid) to 3503 (35 on 3), and includes 215 fonts + 5 variable fonts. Its construction allows to compose in many sizes without changing the stem weight, and/or the pitch.
Available at 205TF.
Online specimen

  • 2007

  • Blago Bung

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  • 2007

  • Blago Bung

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A series of posters for Blago Bung events, Emily Harvey Foundation (NYC, USA) and Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich, CH). Art, Sound, Poetry and Performance. Posters are printed in split fountain : gradients evolve during the printing process, each poster is unique.

  • 2010

  • Musée d’Orsay

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  • 2010

  • Musée d’Orsay

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The Musée d’Orsay wanted, in 2010, to renew its typography, returning to the typeface defined in its original visual identity, developed by Bruno Monguzzi and Jean Widmer (1986). The museum will was to update Walbaum, cut by Justus Erich Walbaum (around 1830), then unique typographic voice of the institution. With Philippe Millot, we defined a family of «cousins» of Walbaum, in styles that appeared later in the 19th century. For text typefaces, a Grotesk (sans serif and bold), and a Typewriter (slab serifs, low contrast, and light). For display typefaces, the uppercase present variations of texture in the manner of 19th century display type. Unfortunately, the Museum barely used this new typeface system.

  • 2021

  • Samaritaine Serif × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

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  • 2021

  • Samaritaine Serif × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

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Along with Samaritaine logotype, I was commissioned by Ateliers Saint-Lazare to develop a custom typeface for La Samaritaine brand identity. Samaritaine Serif is inspired by Latines and Elzévirs of late XIXth Century French typefoundries. With sharp triangular serifs, monocular g, flourished endings, some alternates and a very French Art Nouveau touch.

Visual dentity by Ateliers Saint-Lazare, 2021 (art Direction: Reynald Philippe).

  • 2011

  • Ici l’Onde

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  • 2011

  • Ici l’Onde

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For the identity of the festival Ici l’Onde, organised by Why Note in Dijon, I decided not to use any vectors or fonts, and use photography instead. The poster for the 2011 edition is the result of a complex setup, in which I sought to capture the reflection of the text on the water.

  • 2017

  • Le Barn × be pôles

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  • 2017

  • Le Barn × be pôles

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Cast iron is used on all signage and property objects, in a wide range of techniques: enamel plates, sign painting, silscreen, embroidery, etc.

  • 2011

  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — lumières

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  • 2011

  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — lumières

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A poster for the Théâtre musical de Besançon. The illustration is, as usual, very litteral : a crystal chandelier for a concert on the music of the Enlightenment. It is of course made of circles, and thanks to and thanks to a black pattern printed on the back, the chandelier lights up when the night comes, when the poster is backlit.

  • 2017

  • Park MGM × be pôles

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  • 2017

  • Park MGM × be pôles

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Park MGM is the new name of the famous Hotel Montecarlo, on the Las Vegas Strip (Nevada). It is owned by MGM Resorts. The agency be-poles (Paris / New York) commissioned me to design the exclusive typeface of the hotel, Alder, used for its interior and exterior signage, and all of its communication.
Rather than the excessive and often caricatured image of the hotels in the city, the visual identity of the Park MGM chooses elegance, with a very refined interior design. Likewise, Alder is inspired by the proportions of classic Roman capitals, with a more contemporary design. It comes in 4 weights : Regular, Bold, Italic and Condensed. Exclusive use

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