Chateau is a typeface inspired by the legendary Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont. In the autumn of 2019 Carl-Emil Storm Gabrielsen and Jesper Uttrup of Astrae Studio travelled from Copenhagen to Los Angeles for work.
“We had both read stories of the escapades by the countless celebrities staying at the Chateau since the 1930’s. So we had to go and experience the atmosphere of the hotel first hand. Everything from the “gothic glamour” interior to the ice cube filled pissoirs was exactly what we had dreamt of.
But there was one thing we hadn’t imagined falling in love with - the font used in Chateau Marmont’s logo and merchandise. It’s a gaelic inspired typeface titled Libra designed by the Dutch type designer S.H. de Roos in 1938. S.H. de Roos took inspiration from pre-Carolingian uncial characters dating back more than a thousand years. There was something uniquely charming and (ironically enough) fresh about the medieval feel of this font. “ - Carl-Emil & Jesper
So when the two founders returned to Copenhagen they decided to do an homage to this old font, by creating a slightly more contemporary and versatile version of it. Though they found Libra very appealing, it has some features that makes it difficult to use. The fact that it blends upper and lowercase letters being the main issue.
“It has been a very interesting process to balance the style of the original with a more modern look. “ - Carl-Emil & Jesper
About Astrae Studio
Astrae Studio is a Copenhagen based creative agency founded in 2019 by Carl-Emil Storm Gabrielsen & Jesper Uttrup. Astrae Studio creates graphic design, branding and advertising for a wide range of clients, mainly within the culture and lifestyle sector.
Carl-Emil and Jesper met in 2016 while studying Visual Communication at The Danish School of Media and Journalism. Prior to founding Astrae the two partners have been running Dry Magazine and worked with companies such as Grey Group, Barkas, Dazed Magazine & VICE.
