Pedregal is a display typeface developed at Type Electives. Designed to reflect the pre-Hispanic heritage of volcanic rock and the distinctiveness of Mexican Modernism. Working on Pedregal was the perfect way to channel my nostalgia for one of the places I grew up in, Mexico City.

Mexican modernism within a volcanic desert.

Inspired by El Pedregal, a wild unspoiled volcanic landscape that became a breeding ground for urban experimentation led by visionaries like Luis Barragán, Diego Rivera, and Mathias Goeritz in the 1940s, Pedregal's austere geometric volumes mirror the aesthetics of petrified lava and the volcanic terrain left by the eruption of the Xitle volcano two thousand years ago in the south of Mexico City.

As I drew Pedregal, I constantly studied everyday objects such as molcajetes and metates, Mexican art such as Angela Gurría's monumental sculptures, and Juan O'Gorman's buildings. Sculpting each letter using simple lines and a limited amount of strokes became the most important part of my experimentation, I wanted each character to be as heavy as possible, with as little intervention and decoration as possible.