Fabiola Mejía’s inquisitive, archaeological type practice traverses unexplored territories

“The name stems from the desire to release my typefaces and allow for experimentation and collaboration,” Costa Rica-based type designer Fabiola Mejía tells us discussing the meaning behind her practice, Supercontinente. The name is Spanish for ‘supercontinent’, Fabiola details, an analogy for how she sees her practice as something that’s “constantly transforming,” allowing her to produce work more freely, whilst acting as a continual reminder to interrogate and research new territories of thinking.

This approach seems to encourage a sense of collision within Fabiola’s work, contrasting classic and contemporary aesthetics, be it RYM’s pixelated script design or Anacoreta’s modern blackletter construction. “I’m very interested in the history of type design and in studying existing models,” Fabiola notes, “but I think they should be considered a starting point,” simply a step in the process of finding one’s own voice. “What can I learn from the classic models and what do I have to offer based on my own experiences, perspective, and background?” she questions. “These are thoughts that usually guide my process,” alongside her ever-shifting sources of interest and inspiration.

“I’m always going through phases,” Fabiola explains, although noting secondhand bookshops, found signage and punk rock (to name a few) as consistent sources of inspiration. “Archaeology, geology, and metal casting are currently my favourite fields of study (in a very amateurish and DIY way),” she adds, whilst noting Costa Rica itself as “an unlikely treasure-trove” of typographic inspiration. “Here in Costa Rica, the landscape changes every few kilometres,” Fabiola recalls. “It’s beautifully chaotic, and I think my tendency to shift interests and constantly explore different styles in my work is directly related to my upbringing.”

“It’s through experiencing it that I take cues and hints on how to approach my practice,” she adds, an eclectic, trans-disciplinary foray into interest, intrigue and observation. As such, what is so exciting, ultimately, about Supercontinente’s output is the invited ‘disparity’ between the rigour of Fabiola’s often-academic, in-depth research and the ecstatic, playful and unapologetic design of her typefaces – subverting not only contextual expectations, but the type design scene in the process, asking what’s necessary, what’s not and what’s next.

For Fabiola, what’s next for her is the formal launch of Supercontinente’s webshop, offering carefully crafted, selected artefacts alongside the practice’s established typefaces. “They’ll be produced in limited quantities with friends and artists from different disciplines and backgrounds,” Fabiola describes, crafting a new graphic language for the website to best incorporate its latest offering, and an upcoming launch event to commemorate the practice’s next steps. “It’s all been a slow, interesting, and challenging process, but certainly worth it!” Fabiola concludes. “I’m excited to see where it all takes me and feel grateful to the people taking part in it.”