This typeface is rich, voluptuous and mondo bodacious; but it’s also clever, educated and exceedingly gracious. At first you’re astounded by its unique combination of straights, cusps and spikes, where other charming fonts look decidedly pudgy in comparison. But then you note Pitu’s competence in OpenType, with standard & discretionary ligatures, swash capitals & finials, and multiple styles of numerals. After that you’re struck by its fluency in Latin encodings, extending far beyond Eastern Europe (its region of origin). For a moment, you start resenting that loyal, staid text face back home.

Most breathtaking in the bold weight, Pitu is no mere fling however: it exhibits an impressive and refreshing balance of fervent expression and graceful craft, a balance entirely absent in the gaggles of juvenile display fonts and the neutered humanist sans armies we’re surely tired of by now. This balance gives it staying power, even though its creator professes having “absolutely no clue what Pitu is useful for.”

Some fonts avoid parties, and some fonts just get drunk at them. Pitu adores parties, but never gets lost in them; and some typographers will doubtless get lost in the party that is Pitu.

Hrant Papazian’s perspective on written communication was formed at the crossroads of three competing visual cultures. A multimedia designer by trade, his true love remains the black-and-white, but colorful world of non-Latin typeface design, with commissions from Agfa, Unitype, IKEA, the Narod Cultural Institute, Disney, UCLA, the Israel Postal Authority, Liverpool University and TeX Users Group.