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Publi Fluor: A story of a self taught typographic letterer and the city of Brussels


This is the story of self-taught typographic letterer, Chrystel Crickx. In the streets of Schaerbeek, Belgium, Chrystel used to cut out letters by hand and sell them by the piece in her shop, Publi Fluor, from 1975 to 2001. Little did she know back then that her work was going to be part of the history of typography and of Brussels too. She pioneered techniques that ignored conventions, “cutting letters in her kitchen behind the counter, she developed a lettering practice that was less mobile, yet more commercial”.

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Fortunately, the Crickx Research Group, led by Sophie Boiron and Pierre Huyghebaert - who bought the entire stock of Crickx’s self-adhesive letters - secured a research grant in order to prevent and study her rich archive. The research was organized into three main points:“the history of Christel Crickx's business, her (work)shop, and her economy - the design and the aesthetics of her vinyl letters. The shift from materiality to digital fonts and their licenses. The contemporary uses of Crickx - The family ties between every version of these letters;  their traces in the city, transmission, variations”. 

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The Publi Fluor Archive is more than a repository of letters, it is also ‘a registry of everyday life, of the sources and of the economy of her unique practice’. Christel started crafting these letters for local advertising but today they are digitized, available globally, used in diverse and various contexts. “Inhabiting the margins of normalized means of communication, they have contributed and still contribute to the visual urban environment, in Brussels and elsewhere”. 

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In the upcoming book “Publi Fluor, Letter Affair in Brussels”, the group documents the Chrystel Crickx’s legacy, her work, her letters and their various appropriations, shedding light on her unconventional journey — in both French, Dutch and English. You can pre-order your copy of "Publi Fluor, Letter Affair in Brussels" and be the first to discover the intriguing world of Chrystel Crickx's typographic legacy. Don't miss this opportunity to explore the intersection of typography, culture, and urban life.

Find more information, here.