Bruno Tomberg. Disaini leiutamine / Invention of Designwas an extensive retrospective exhibition and monograph of Bruno Tomberg’s work at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design in Tallinn, curated by Kai Lobjakas. The exhibition offered an overview of Tomberg’s nearly six-decade-long career, exploring for the first time in greater depth his roles as both designer and educator. It also brought a wealth of previously unknown and unexhibited materials to the public. Bruno Tomberg(1926–2021) was an interior architect, designer, artist and educator, recognised as a leading voice in Estonian design during its intense development from the early 1960s onward. Through his diverse creative, pedagogical and administrative activities, he embodies the story of Estonian applied art and design. For this occasion, the display typefaceBruno 100was created byTüpokompanii. The font is based on Tomberg’s poster designs from the 1970s, strongly reflecting his style as a product and interior designer where diagonal lines and rhombic shapes were frequent motifs throughout his career. A fuzzy texture was added to the type in the graphic design (byIndrek Sirkel), and exhibition wall texts were roll-painted over stencils to achieve a fabric-like surface to echo the materiality of Tomberg’s textile work and rug designs. The accompanying typeface isLadna. While Bruno 100 was custom-made for this project, it can be licensed to the public, so feel free to reach out toTüpokompaniiif you’d like to use it.
This typography communicates scholarly reverence paired with tactile craftsmanship—the kind of intellectual authority that emerges from deep material practice rather than academic distance. Bruno 100's geometric angularity and weathered texture creates a brutalist-meets-artisan energy, while Ladna provides readable sophistication that honors both the designer's modernist legacy and contemporary curatorial standards.
Bruno 100's diagonal emphasis and rhombic letterforms directly reference Tomberg's signature design motifs from the 1970s, creating authentic biographical typography rather than generic historical pastiche. The deliberately eroded texture mimics the roll-painted stencil technique used on exhibition walls, establishing material consistency between environmental graphics and printed matter. Ladna's clean, scholarly presence provides necessary contrast and legibility while respecting the custom face's experimental nature.
The pairing creates productive tension between memorial and functional—Bruno 100 serves as typographic portraiture of the designer himself, while Ladna handles the curatorial voice with appropriate scholarly restraint. This hierarchy allows the custom face to operate as both display type and conceptual statement without overwhelming the substantial textual content required in museum publications.