TDCHisashi Iwai
NUMBERS DESIGN BY
AWARD
2019
Type Design Prize
Hisashi Iwai

Fides

Hisashi Iwai|Fides
Hisashi Iwai|Fides
Hisashi Iwai|Fides

Fides (Type Design)

“Fides” is a Japanese kana font that has been revived as the digital font of an old type used in the Kirishitanban “Fides no Qvio.”
Constantino Dourado, a Japanese national hailing from Hizen Province, accompanied the Tensho Keno Shonen Shisetsu (the Tensho Ambassador to Europe) and acquired typography techniques during a trip to Rome. After returning to Japan, he published the Kirishitanban. At the end of his travels in the days of sail, he returned to Japan with some printing machinery and launched Japan’s first publishing business using Western printing techniques. The greatness of his work is beyond imagination.
Typographic designers stand on the shoulders of giants. Over the course of recorded human history, they take over the assets of people who wrote or inscribed letters and accomplish their duties. Needless to say, Dourado is one of our forerunners. “When I finish my role, I hope the giants will grow again, even if only by one millimeter,” — I sometimes think about such arrogance.
With the latest winning of the Type Design Prize, I feel very encouraged. I really appreciate all of your support.

Hisashi Iwai

Hisashi Iwai (Japan)

Born in 1981, Iwai graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, Faculty of Zokei, Department of Design, Visual Communication Major, and Aichi University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Design Sphere. As a typeface designer at Jiyukobo Ltd., he is engaged in the creation of the library of the Yusho font family and ordered fonts. The prize-winner also works as a part-time lecturer at Kyoto Seika University and Bunsei University of Art.