Pass by any old building in the city and you're bound to stumble upon at least a few vintage typefaces from decades past. Saigon's old-school signage is a work of art in its own right, with everything from blocky, geometric fonts to whimsical, loopy lettering splashed across its dwindling number of hand-painted signs.
As the city's older structures begin to disappear, so do its many typefaces. However thanks to Luu Chu, an online community also known as the Lost Type of Vietnam, records of these old-school fonts are being preserved for posterity. The group, whose Facebook following reaches nearly 5,000, documents vintage Vietnamese type on Instagram with the hashtags #luuchu and #thelosttypevietnam as well as sharing it on other social media platforms.
Recently, one Luu Chu member took his appreciation of vintage fonts a step further by creating his own updated homage to Saigon's old typefaces. Hanoi-based Manh Nguyen's Classique Saigon is a free, multilingual sans serif font reminiscent of old-school Saigon signage created in an effort to bring the best of old Saigon into the present. Take a look below:
[Photos via Behance user Manh Nguyen]
