The Torquemada family marks the return of eminent American calligrapher Philip Bouwsma to the type scene after almost 7 years of hiatus, and he is certainly coming back with a lot of bells and whistles!

Torquemada offers the same kind of excitement that emanated from Bouwsma’s work in 1970s and 1980s New York, when he was one of the most important leaders of the New Calligraphy movement that brought calligraphy forth as a mainstream art and craft, and spawned many of today’s known calligraphers. Not only is this calligraphic art at its very digital finest, but it also introduces a completely new concept in drawing letters with a broad pen. Bouwsma’s Torquemada Principle defines the harmony of weight, contrast, tension and space by consistently changing the angle of the broad pen between 0 and 80 degrees throughout all strokes. When the strokes become hairlines at the lowest angles, the paths made by the actual corners of the pen cross over one another, making the outline flat or slightly hollowed. This new calligraphic idea gives us the rare opportunity to quote an old Monty Python joke: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Torquemada comes in four variations: Torquemada One regular and bold, and Torquemada Two regular and bold. The difference between Torquemada One and Two is not just a simple change in vertical metrics. The stroke proportions of each variation were also optically adjusted for maximum readability at small sizes, as well as maximum aesthetics for display work. Check the PDF included in the MyFonts gallery section for further information on the Torquemada Principle, visual samples, and the differences between the font’s four variations.

Torquemada comes in all major font formats, in two separate packages priced affordably, or in one complete bundle, also priced very affordably. The OpenType version is two fonts, a regular and a bold, with the proportional alternates slotted as contextual substitutions in the programming of the font. A few alternates and random swashings are also included within the fonts.

Torquemada’s applications are virtually endless. This is a real calligraphic workhorse that has the power to elevate any design to higher levels of visual appeal. You can trust this work to be the perfect choice for book, film and music covers, titling, posters, signage, flyers, packaging and all kinds of branding.

We'd like to think of the advent of Torquemada as the beginning of a new calligraphic Renaissance. And who is better to start it than a master of calligraphy like Philip Bouwsma?