How did each of you end up at CAST?

GG: I joined around 2017 or 2018 while studying in Urbino. Luciano was my teacher; I got pulled into a couple projects and… that was it. First real job, great people… I’m still here!

VC: I joined in summer 2023 after Typographics. I’d co-run Sunday Büro with my husband, doing editorial lettering for clients in Italy and the U.S. I wanted to get serious about type, especially scripts. CAST first needed help with accounting—glamorous!—then they slid a custom project into my lap. Riccardo reviewed, Daniele sat with me for hours to get me started on engineering. Watching things work in a font file is addictive.

RO: The seed was a short course at Politecnico di Milano in 2007. Many future CAST people crossed there. In 2012 a bunch of us met at a conference bar in Amsterdam and said, “Italy needs a foundry—let’s do it.” Half drifted, half stayed. We formed the co-op officially in 2013, and really hit our stride by 2015. We registered in Bolzano because my consultant there specializes in co-ops. (If you know Italian bureaucracy, you know why that matters.)

You offer custom families, spacing/kerning, scripting/automation, training—basically everything type-related. How do you route such a variety of projects through the foundry?

VC: Availability first—most of us also teach. We share timelines and the load (“six hours a day for two months” versus “two days a week for six”). Then skills and interest. One recent example: a client needed a script. Luciano brought it in; I drew the concept, Riccardo reviewed, Daniele built the OpenType features. In parallel, Giulio, Stefano, and Luciano were deep in a different custom project. It flexes project by project, but we have a big group to call on.

Giulio, your talk at Typographics on evidence-based type design stuck with me. Is that a CAST policy or more of a toolkit you pull out when the client’s right for it?

GG: It’s a set of strategies, not a rigid methodology. We borrow from scientific practices—more structured questions, mapping expressive qualities to typographic variables, measuring feedback in a way that isn’t just vibes. How far we push it depends on the client. If the setup is there, we loop in folks like Luciano, reshape the team, and go a little deeper than the average creative chat. Some of these strategies are becoming part of CAST’s regular approach.

RO: When the experiments prove useful, we fold them into our normal workflow. The hardest part is explaining the value to designers without drowning them in technical detail.

You publish a lot of work by non-members. How do you manage outside designers?

RO: The pain is time. The fun part of a typeface lasts a month or two; then there are ten more months of work! Sometimes people realize that too late and step away. It’s not common, but it happens, and we’ve invested real hours by then. Usually designers approach us; we help tighten the concept and review along the way. Sometimes we invite someone we admire.

GG: The support level slides with experience. With newer designers we may help build the idea and review heavily; with veterans we’re light-touch. We’re beginning to formalize those tracks, but we still trust our sense of people.

VC: Engineering is especially time-hungry, so we’re capping outside-designer releases at about two per year—the Alfabeti Modernisti collection is the big exception because it’s a whole ecosystem. And fonts are never “done”—standards evolve, validators get pickier, customers find edge cases—so the limit protects the catalog we already have.

What are your thoughts on the “Italian type scene”?

GG: Labels like “national scene” flatten reality. Type is global, and scenes grow where people actually meet—notably schools and conferences. Italy could have more of those. Also, there’s a cultural reflex to sell “tradition” first. We respect history—many of us research it—but leaning on the stereotype can trap you.

RO: We respect the other Italian type designers, too. Many of them are friends. We have different approaches and could probably learn more from each other. We’re glad to see some of them represented at Type Network, as well.

Why join Type Network—and what are you most looking forward to?

GG: Honestly, it started as a human decision. We met, talked, liked each other’s way of working. Without that, it would’ve been just “one more option.”

VC: We want dialogue and reliable partners. CAST has people, skills, and a lot of ideas; we need a bigger platform to reach the right clients. Not to mention, your partners are some of the best in the industry; it doesn’t hurt to be counted among them.

Is there anything else we should be sure to include?

RO: Yes—our long project Modernisti wraps this autumn with 25 typefaces. It connects to a book by our friend Luca Lattuga, a printer who has been collecting type from closed shops. He suggested we create digital revivals from what he found and we couldn’t resist. The book is essentially a catalogue of those typefaces; alongside it we’re publishing Alfabeti Modernisti Type Specimens—similar format and cover, with fewer pages. It will be out by November.

Thank you all for your time. I’m excited that CAST is joining Type Network and look forward to working together.

VC: Thank you! We’re excited, too.

RO: Yes, we’re all very happy.

GG: It’s been a pleasure. Till next time!