The development of Bilzig began a quarter-century ago in Brittany. Designer Jeanne Saliou was born in Brest in 2000, received her art education at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, and refined her philosophy about language and identity at Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT, or National Workshop for Typographic Research) in Nancy. At ANRT, she began the research and development of a typeface, guided by the question: Can we establish a link between a letter and our place of birth?
Saliou collaborated with Skritur, a foundry specializing in the written traditions of Brittany and the Celtic regions, to bring the typeface to life. Released in late November, Bilzig supports the typographic, cultural, and linguistic needs of Breton (including a wider scope of Gallo, Welsh, French, and other European languages) and also addresses long-form reading comfort.
The typeface looks back, certainly. Bilzig is unique in that it enables the graphic expression of linguistic flexibility through consonant shifts (the evolution in how a word sounds during articulation over time). However, it was also important to Saliou to address a few contemporary challenges, primarily, how to make it more inclusive and accessible for today’s audience. Her interests and research aligned with a broader cultural movement to revitalize Breton, embraced by the younger generation, activists, linguists, and teachers, who aim to improve its cultural representation and relevance now and for the future.
This approach makes Breton a living, malleable language, capable of engaging with contemporary issues and fully expressing itself through typographic creation.
Jeanne Saliou
Bilzig offers a host of features, including ligatures and unique character variations inherent to Breton, French, and Welsh scripts. It comes in Roman and italics with four weights (normal, medium, bold, and black).
Bilzig’s development started with a cultural question, and Jeanne Saliou and the Skritur team hope to continue the conversation and inquiry, creating a hub for articles, additional research, interviews, and process conversations at skritur.eu.
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