FAIRspot.com » Interview With Carlos Guerrero CFCG

Interview

Carlos Fabián Camargo (CFCG)

We are proud to announce our first interview in a series of original content presented by FAIRspot.com. We will be bringing you inside the lives of artists and designers world wide to give you a fresh perspective on what is happening inside the community.

Font Designer Carlos Fabián Camargo (CFCG) kicks off the series with a wonderful interview and some amazing work to feast your eyes on. Enjoy!

FAIRspot: For the readers that don't know, what does CFCG stand for?

Carlos Fabián Camargo: CFCG are my initials, my name is Carlos Fabián Camargo Guerrero.

FS: What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

CFCG: A cheese and ham sandwich, a mushroom omelet and orange juice.

FS: What's a typical day like for CFCG?

CFCG: All my days are not the same, but I try to follow this schedule:

6:30 am to 7:30 am: I take a walk
7:30 am to 8:30 am: I take a shower, get dressed and eat my breakfast
9:00 am to 12:00 noon: I work on my computer
12:30 pm to 1:30 pm: Lunch
2:00 pm to 6:30 pm: Work again
7:00 pm until…: I usually read some blogs, watch a movie or hang around with my girlfriend

FS: What is the current design scene like in Colombia?

CFCG: Colombia is a big country and I feel that I should only talk about the places I have been. I studied Graphic Design in Venezuela and worked in advertising agencies in both countries. What I like most is that all the works of designers I know are reproduced and supported by different aspects of the country (literature, finance, underground art, cooking, dressmaking, etc...).

CFCG: What I don't like is the lack of importance given to typography within the colleges. For example, in Bogotá, there were a few typography lectures given last year called "Letras Latinas 2006". I noticed that there were many designers interested in learning typography production. Noticing this trend, at the beginning of 2007—and together with a couple of friends—we decided to create a study group called Tipografico.org. The essence of the group is to have a place on the internet where anyone interested in typography could exchange and debate their own experiences in font design. We meet once a month in Bogotá, Colombia.

FS: Have you ever been to America?

CFCG: No, not yet, but I will let you know once I decide to go.

FS: How long have you been designing?

CFCG: I started to earn my living practicing Graphic Design in 1998—one year before ending my college Graphic Design studies in Merida, Venezuela. I worked as an Art Director in several advertising agencies such as Mccann Ericsson and Leo Burnett in Venezuela; and Ogilvy One and SSA Bates in Colombia. In 1998 I [also] founded Andinistas. In 2003 I moved my studio to Bogotá, Colombia and since 2006 I have been specializing in designing retail fonts and fonts by order.

FS: What do you do in your spare time when you are not working or designing?

CFCG: Read, take pictures, hang around with my girlfriend and friends, go to the movies, travel, take pictures, walk, take pictures…

FS: How did you become interested in typography?

CFCG: Since I was a child, I have always liked comics and science fiction stories. My grandfather’s work also influenced my interest in drawing. He built a life size helicopter using wood, a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, an automobile, etc... He spent his entire life in his backyard building these type of things.

In school, the subjects I liked most were those related to drawing and music. The last pages of my notebooks and my bedroom door were always full of ink, stickers, letters and drawings. With the money my parents gave me during the week, I used to buy music LP´s and comic books.

When I first started to study graphic design, I became interested in art history books that talked about Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism. It caught my attention how the Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara wrote his poems. I also became interested in Hugo ball, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp's life and work. After I read about Man Ray’s Ray Gram Technique, I couldn't sleep.

I did research on Andy Warhol, Marisol Escobar and other pop culture icons. I also read a lot about Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Jim Morrison, Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, Nancy & Johnny Rotten and of course, Cioran & Nietzsche.

In the first advertising agency I worked for, I found a design magazine called Matiz. There was an article underlined noting the advantages and qualities of some design software called Fontographer. I was very curious about it and I got a copy of it for my computer. Thanks to the software, I could digitize some ideas I had drawn on paper. After that, together with my brother Jorge Camargo and my best friend Lennyn Salinas, I started to publish web files using my fonts on a website we called Andinistas.

These things might not appear to have any relation with typography, but for me, [somehow] each one of them influences my work today.

FS: Would you consider Che Guevara an inspiration or just another pop culture icon?

CFCG: Che Guevara, just as every other icon in the world, is what each person wants it to be.

FS: What inspires you to create a font?

CFCG: The raw materials I use to create my fonts are discovered in the clarity found away from typography. I get inspired by the lights and shadows (improvisations) that are seen in Bogota at 4:00pm and in places I have been in Venezuela and in Colombia. [Inspiration is found] in an everyday talk with somebody, while riding a bike, when I am walking, watching a movie, under an umbrella in the middle of the rain, listening to my favorite music or taking pictures of my family on Sunday. I obtain it wherever I look for it.

FS: How do you produce your fonts?

CFCG: Sketches are always my starting point. I spend a lot of time experimenting and trying images and graphic tests with my fonts before publishing them. I am not a professional photographer but I love taking pictures of different moments and things with my digital camera. I don't feel like an illustrator, but I spend a lot of time also doing analogous and digital illustrations. In my opinion, my fonts work perfect catching people’s attention because they can graphically enrich their atmosphere.

FS: Serif or Sans Serif?

CFCG: Both…

FS: What advice would you give a new designer that wants to start experimenting with type?

CFCG: I will say to new designers that you should try to be your own boss, be yourself and make whatever you like most. If you have a goal, you should fight to make it a reality. You should study the important things successful people have done. Goals have to be measured according to results. The difference between those who talk a lot and those who spend time working is that those who work, get results; and in business, what is important are the results.

Like what you see?
All fonts featured here plus many more are available for purchase at MyFonts:

Click Here to View and Purchase CFCG Fonts

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March 10, 2010