The Most Beautiful Character
Posted by: Alissa Ampezzan
Having been at Q over 2 years now, I’ve often found myself exclaiming such oddities as "Check out THAT Q! The tail is detached!" My friends and family ignore my nerdy typographical rants and have even started pointing out interesting Q’s for me to document. They’ve caught the Q bug. A few weeks ago, I left Germany for a 10-day vacation in Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, and Paris. And, I made it my side-mission (my main mission being spend as much money as possible) to document international Q’s.
Want to go on a typo/geo-graphical adventure? Some of my favorites are below.
Rome: First Q. The remote control in the hotel.
Rome: Found on a wall in a very old and historic place I’m sure. I can’t remember, but it’s the twin of the Q Wiesbaden logo.
Florence: While buying an obscenely expensive leather jacket, the man who debosses your initials into the jacket asked, "Why are you photographing the Q letterpress?" I explained this American’s fascination with the letter and he quickly pulled out a scrap piece of leather to deboss various Q’s into. Totally worth the money.
Florence: A little Q-sweetened cappuccino.
Venice: A cake and poster in a restaurant called Quadrant.
Venice: Glass cufflink.
Paris: A boutique. Just love the combination. <3 Q.
Back in Germany:
I asked Thilo to tell me how Q Europe decided to name their agency. (Q America came from its original name, Quorum.) He told me they wanted to keep it simple and avoid using either his or Laurenz’s last names because they are too complex, so they settled on using a single letter. Alissa: "But why Q?" Thilo: "Because it’s the most beautiful one." Agreed.
You can browse more photos from my trip here and if you still haven’t gotten your fill of international Q’s, check out the extensive collection archived by Q Wiesbaden. (Click on "International Gallery of Qs")
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