Graphic Design Publication Publishing Typography

La Perruque: Type Magazine

posted by Anna Chayasatit December 8, 2020

La Perruque is a 1×90 centimetre-long typography magazine publishing non-standard type specimens printed on the margins of print shop papers which are often trimmed away from printed matter during the production process.

Instead of throwing these bits in the waste bin, founding designer Olivier Bertrand turns them into the world’s tiniest magazine that has now become one of the most sought-after publications amongst typography fanatics.

The project began as primary academic research back in 2015 in the French capital of Brittany in the northwestern part of France, Rennes. Olivier established an unspoken agreement with the print shop Media Graphic to allow him to experiment with unused print surfaces and large scale production techniques. He then discovered that this no-waste form of printing also examines an alternative economic model which challenges the publishing industry with roots that go back centuries.

Each issue of La Perruque features a typeface and an article documenting the process of its highly original design. Published by Brussels-based design studio Surfaces-Utiles, the magazines are distributed using a piece of wood to hold the typeface specimen together. Previously featured typefaces include La Gauchère by Marion Cachon, KOPY ME by Swiss Typefaces and BB-BOOK A by Benoît Bodhuin to name but a few.

What’s more, the magazine also serves as a portal into the world of type experimentation, in-progress fonts, and manifestos. And after 5 years in business, all the 21 issues cohere to compose an ever-evolving portrait of design culture that displays the social and political impact of graphic design.

La Perruque, translated as a ‘homer’ in English, is, indeed, ‘an artefact that a worker manufactures using company tools and materials outside normal production plans but at the workplace and during the working hours.’