Mechanische Weberei Hahn & Hummel invoice, 1938
In the last episode of Weekly Invoice, we’ve seen an example of Grotesk-Pfeiler in use. This week brings us another pretty straightforward invoice design, printed in one color, and used in 1938 by Hahn & Hummel, a mechanical weaving mill in Bautzen, Saxony. Again the letterhead is distinguished by a peculiar all-caps display typeface. Its name is Elementar.
The geometric semi-slab serif that could pass off as the grandmother of Neville Brody’s Insignia (1990) was issued by the Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei in 1927 — just like Grotesk-Pfeiler. Elementar was also made by the same designer, F. Schultze. Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot about this person. Chances are that the ‘F’ stands for Franz or Fritz, but who knows — maybe it’s a Frida? The Berlin telephone directory for 1927 has more than one hundred entries for F. Schultze, including painters, architects, printers and other professions that make for a possible candidate, and this is already assuming that the artist lived in the same city where the foundry was located. Elementar and Grotesk-Pfeiler are the only two typefaces credited to him or her. Neither has been revived so far.
