Event Information

Sometimes we all need a swift shot to the arm to get creative flow in motion. An overwhelming dose of humor and real life commentary, Matteo administered that hit without the audience even knowing. It seemed we were participators in his own stand-up routine; he chastised the audience for replies and slipped in one ante dote after another over career highlights. Instantly, we knew it was no joke he made the journey to NYC, since “everyone is always late in Italy,” and the ads leave much to be desired back home other than the persistent theme of exposed women.

So enter Matteo to save the day, a self taught graphic guru: time and again inventing a new typeface for each design, including a script style that has three variations in each glyph. On his longtime affair with typeface, Matteo infused a passionate theory that crosses over to all areas of creative invention: “Typeface is the tone of the design,” just as vocal tone and inflection is what we reminisce of an interaction long after. Matteo also added that true creativity is ever “shifting the borders of our design”; this is when true branding happens. We often see a brand as “wrong” if it doesn’t fit in a pre-described box; we “typecast” ourselves. Matteo reminded us in his softly spoken accent that those ideas are never “wrong,” just “unique.”

Of all striking designs, Matteo he gave his own endorsement for “Brooklyn Fare” and its “stripped down to the basics branding.” And that is just what we were struck with as we saw the closing slide with a model pulling off a Brooklyn Fare t-shirt — a little bit of inspiration, Matteo style. Informal. Warm. Real. Ever creative and inventive at heart. As we sat there in awe, it was no surprise he closed the evening with a single black and white circle of “Ciao,” spoken with that same Italian appeal and “sarcastic sparkle” we came to love in just over an hour