Traduttore, traditore is an experimental studio with a love of cheap and childish graphics
Taking the less trodden road of design, the studio is making grainy graphics cool again.
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There are a few stock images and feelings that the studio Traduttore, traditore is attached to: those that have strong references to adolescence and childhood – like “magazines, colour books and cereal boxes” – and those that are (in the studio's own words) a little “cheap”, says co-founders Rozenn Voyer and Clément Faydit. Taking these images, Rozenn and Clément then aim to re-inject them with graphic languages and materials that “provoke the same enthusiasm” as they did in the viewers’ younger years. Although, their designs are far from simply saccharine and sweet; they infuse each one with a strange, slightly surreal edge. For example, on one poster sits a neon-coloured mouse, textured quite like nothing seen on earth.
Fittingly, the studio's name (a paronomasia) signals their lack of typical, or uniform approach to design. Traduttore in English means ‘translator’ which references the “sliding of an idea into a graphic form”, and traditore – ‘traitor’ – “a warning to the potential client”. Alongside their graphic studio, Rozenn and Clément have co-founded the deliciously eclectic magazine HOOT, which prints conversations with creatives and cry mimi cry – a publishing house that prints creative texts with a keen focus on the quality of printing, paper and binding.
Traduttore, traditore (with Cedric Elmerich): Un lit en pierre, des pierres qui deviennent des lits (poster), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (Copyright © Traduttore, traditore, Juillet 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: Chiens Pourries, Thundercage, Aubervilliers (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, mars 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: New identity for In extensor (art space), Clermont-Ferrand (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, 2023)
Traduttore, traditore: Miss Bean, business Wouman (Vinyl), Marseille (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, june 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: Jardiland, l’Embobines, Marseille (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, février 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: 20 ans party, In extenso, Clermont-Ferrand (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, December 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: 20 ans party, In extenso, Clermont-Ferrand (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, December 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: Festival Échos 5 (poster and booklet), Fermes du Faï (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, June 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: Career Girls, Mécènes du Sud, Montpellier (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, June 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: The prime times volume I, Sophie T. Lvoff, cry mimi cry, Marseille (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore and cry mimi cry, janvier 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: The prime times volume I, Sophie T. Lvoff, cry mimi cry, Marseille (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore and cry mimi cry, janvier 2022)
Traduttore, traditore: HOOT (collection) (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore and GUFO, 2021-2023)
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Traduttore, traditore: selection (Copyright ©Traduttore, traditore, 2021-2023)
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About the Author
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Olivia (she/her) joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in November 2021 and soon became staff writer. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a degree in English literature and history, she’s particularly interested in photography, publications and type design.