In Paris, the cafés and bistros don’t need no stinkin’ designers to do their signs. “We are the letterers,” the owners might say, paraphrasing actor Alfonso Bedoya‘s famous lines in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Some of the best handlettering anywhere is done for these menu and aperitif sign boards.
Here are a few that top my list of great letterers (I wish I knew their names). First is the blackboard for Restaurant L’ Ange Gardien (The Guardian Angel) on Rue des Pyrénées (above and below) lettered by the owner and chef (and the food is good too). Second is the ad hoc signage at La Rubis (below, second from top) on Rue Marche Saint Honoré, created with marker and highlighted in yellow. And third (bottom) is from a nameless café on an on a nameless Parisian street (quelle romantique).
Tomorrow check out Saturday Extra.
