We Are United Colors of Naples.

United Colors of Naples was born from two incredible, endless loves: the love for Naples, in all its forms, and the love for typography and graphic design in general.

Typography cast its spell on me in October 1996, in Agnano to be exact, a neighbourhood of Naples. The colours, the inkwells, the paper, the machines, the sour smell of the inks and the shouting of the typesetters. Wonderful, kind of.

Then, Naples. Despite everything, Naples. I can't help loving Naples, its strength, its power: the Water, the Fire, the Volcano. Its contradictions, its unconditional love, its hospitality, the way it is a refuge, for better or worse. So I wanted to do something for Naples. I was looking for an idea that wasn't too clichéd: no pizzas, no mandolins, no sun, no sea. Actually, I was looking for the exact opposite. I wanted, and I was looking for, the colour, or rather the warmth, of the Colours of Naples. Those colours that find you, those colours that show themselves in their incredible yet complex simplicity.

Then, as we all know, a good idea only takes a moment. This one had been buzzing around my head for a long, long time, but I could never quite catch it. Then, all of a sudden, a Pantone formula guide, a test, and here we are. So here's the paper, a good paper, in this case a white 390gsm Fedrigoni Acquerello, and the colour (the paper weight depends on the size!).

Real colour, true colour, applied with brushes, rollers, shapes and old metal type.

The name United Colors of Naples comes from an assignment set by the great and unique Gaetano Gravina, one of the few true Italian graphic designers, at the Istituto d'Arte Boccioni in Naples, in the early 2000s. So yes, the name isn't mine, it belongs to Gaetano. I hope he doesn't mind :)