RIO is a typeface and a stencil designed by Marius Schwarz. It started as a by-product of an assignment which got revisited and developed over the years, seeking to find a letterform between conceptual modularity and crafty imperfection.
“More than ten years ago I was asked to design a logo for a high school in Kleve, named after Joseph Beuys. It made me think how Beuys must have been as a student and respectively as a teacher. I came across a local memorial site in which unknown Beuys carved names into wood in a very direct and crafty way, shaped by the triangular chisel he used. Years later, when Beuys was a professor at the art academy in Düsseldorf, Imi Knöbel was one of his students. In this time Knöbel developed the conceptual modular furniture called Raum 19 (referring to their class room), which could be taken apart and rearranged in different exhibition settings. I was fascinated by this formal and conceptual contrast between teacher and student. RIO combines the triangular carved letters with the modularity of the furniture, pin-pointing a generational conflict of teacher and student, while finding beauty within it.”
The typeface is called RIO for several reasons. It’s a name, It got a ring to it, Instead of Beuys or Knöbel it refers to another German legend altogether, punk singer Rio Reiser. On Silly Type Foundry it is available as a typeface with variable triangle weight.
DESIGNER: Marius Schwarz (with Niklas Weisenbach)
YEAR: 2025
FORMAT: Variable Typeface
LANGUAGE: LATIN ALL CAPS
Photographs by Johannes Schwartz
