064_GUsto

Fanny Garcia and Jack Usine, both graduates of the fine arts school in Bordeaux, have been collaborating as freelancers since 2005.

Although as a duo their name is GUsto, their output has been expanded and enriched by contributions to collective and non-profit projects. “Soupirs à la bordelaise” (Bordeaux sighs), their best-known project to date, also most epitomises their creative approach. This meticulous photographic inventory of 1,489 soupiraux (cellar screens in building walls) yielded the ornamental typeface Soupirs, which features in a number of their designs. This is how GUsto works: by reinterpreting neglected urban signs in their graphics, the duo are reviving an exceptional decorative heritage.

Their work – shown at the Poster and Graphic Arts Festival 2007 in Chaumont, as part of the “Impressions Françaises” exhibition, and more recently at the museum of contemporary art (CAPC) in Bordeaux as part of the “Off Set” series – reflects the vibrant state of French graphic design today.