About
I am a designer, typographer, researcher, educator. ‡ Born and raised in Milan, I am now a resident of Seattle, after a stop in the Netherlands for a master in Type Design at KABK.
I am currently Creative Director at Studio Matthews, a woman-owned and women-led practice of designers, teachers, and makers, where I lead an interdisciplinary team in the development of visual identities, exhibitions, wayfinding systems, placemaking and interpretive experiences.
My approach to design is rooted in place and shaped through close collaboration across disciplines—branding, architecture, user experience, and storytelling.
Type and typography are my enduring passions and the common threads that connect all my projects. I have a particular fascination with 19th-century type, a subject I have been researching for over a decade.
I have taught typography and type design at leading design schools and universities in Europe, China, and the United States, and I am a frequent speaker at international design conferences.
Face/Interface, Stanford University — January 18, 2025
Researching Italian type history: on analog and digital archives, and a scrappy database. Organized by SILICON: the Stanford Initiative on Language Inclusion and Conservation in Old and New Media.
Teague, Seattle — November 14, 2024
Presenting Studio Matthews work to the design team
TypeCon, Portland — July 26, 2024
Dusty old type. International type conference organized by Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA)
Touchpoint SFU, Vancouver CA — March 16, 2024
Invited speaker at the annual design conference organized by Simon Fraser University
Salotto NYC — February 7, 2024
Old type, new type: Marta Bernstein in conversation with Alexander Tochilovsky (Lubalin Center)
Cooper Union, NY — June 20, 2022
Type lessons from the Nineteenth Century. Type@Cooper Lecture Series
Castello del Valentino, Torino — September 16–17, 2021
International Symposium: Nebiolo Type Foundry, 1878–1978: New critical assessments.
TypeLab Americas, online — June 17, 2021
19th Century ugly type (that actually isn’t). Organized as part of Typographics type conference, Cooper Union, NYC
The Herb Lubalin Lecture Series, online — Marc 29, 2021
A curtain-raiser for the Nebiolo story. Collective talk by Nebiolo History Project
TypeWknd, online — September 25, 2020
Beyond expectations: Unconventional & conventional type design. Panel discussion organized by Maurice Meilleur.
SFPL Main Library, San Francisco — May 3, 2020
More is more, sometimes. In defense of display typefaces. Lecture organized by the Letterform Archive.
Typographics, NYC — June 15, 2019
Ugly type. International type conference organized by Cooper Union.
Raffles, Milan — May 20, 2019
Guest lecture
Biblioteca Palatina, Parma — March 16, 2019
Tra Bodoni e la Nebiolo, i cento anni perduti della tipografia italiana. Exhibition and conference at Museo Bodoniano.
ATypI Antwerp — September 15, 2018
The lost hundred years: type in Italy 1813–1908. International type conference organized by Association Typographique Internationale.
SUPSI, Lugano — April 10, 2018
Wayfinding: when typography meets architecture. SUPSI University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.
Digital Design Week, Milan — March 18, 2018
Digital typography and non-latin alphabets. Roundtable on digital typography.
Pentagram, NY — June 2017
Lecture at the New York office about Nineteenth Century Italian type
Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona — March 10, 2017
Wayfinding: when typography meets architecture.
Kerning, Faenza — June 3, 2016
A hundred years of type in Italy 1813–1908. Kerning, International Type Conference in Faenza, Italy.
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver CA — 2014
Part of the ItaliaDesign series of interviews on the most relevant Italian designers conducted by
Gruppo Nove, School of Interactive Arts + Technology (SIAT), Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (Canada).
Osservatorio Permanente Giovani–Editori, Parma — November 29, 2013
Bodoni, il segno italiano, moderno per tradizione
AUB/ALBA/LAU, Beirut —2013
Introduction to Italian Graphic Design. Series of lectures organized by SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design in Beirut, Lebanon at: AUB American University of Beirut, ALBA Académie Libanaise Des Beaux-Arts, LAU Lebanese American University.
Torino Design Capital — 2008
Moderator at a roundtable on book design with Steven Heller and Enrico Tallone, Book Design Space
While researching 19th-century Italian type, I’ve traveled extensively to visit both public and private collections, often gaining access to type specimens that hadn’t been opened in decades.
Along the way, I’ve encountered a wealth of loud, quirky, overly-decorated, and wonderfully expressive typefaces—sparking a lasting affection for so-called “ugly” type, as well as for databases and libraries.
Since my dissertation project «A Hundred Years in Type 1813-1908» with prof. James Clough, I’ve been researching the history of Italian typefounding. Over the course of a century, typographic practice in Italy transformed from a highly skilled craft—as exemplified by Giambattista Bodoni—to a fully mechanized industry. While much has been written about Bodoni and the Nebiolo company in Turin, the period between the two remains largely unexplored. How did Nebiolo rise to become one of the most influential Italian type foundries of the early 20th century, systematically absorbing nearly all of its competitors across the country? And who were those competitors? My ongoing research is trying to answer those questions.
I am also a member of the Nebiolo History Project, an independent research collective dedicated to uncovering and studying archival materials from Italy’s most renowned type foundry, and its enduring legacy. Our latest publication «The Nebiolo Typefoundry, 1878–1978. New critical assessments» collects the proceedings of the International symposium held in Turin, 16–17 September 2021.
Nebiolo History Project members are: Alessandro Colizzi, Riccardo Olocco, James Clough, Riccardo De Franceschi, Marta Bernstein, Massimo Gonzato.
Teaching is my passion and it has made me a better professional. Over the past two decades I have taught typography and type design in various design school in Europe, China, and the US.
UW University of Washington, Seattle WA
Guest lecturer at the School of Art and Design — Since 2023
Hes So Geneva, CH
External expert in typography — Since 2018
USC University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA
Adjunct professor at USC Roski School of Design — 2020–21
Otis College, Los Angeles CA
Adjunct professor — 2020
Raffles, Milan ITA
Adjunct professor at the MA in Visual Design — 2018–19
SUPSI University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Lugano CH
Visiting professor — 2018
Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona ESP
Visiting professor — 2016–18
Tongji Architecture University, Shanghai CHI
Lecturer for the joint master with Poli.Design (Politecnico di Milano) — 2015–18
Politecnico di Milano
Adjunct professor at the School of Design — 2011–19
SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design, Milan
Adjunct professor — 2009–2019
CFP Bauer, Milan
Evening courses in Basic and Advanced Type Design — 2010–2019
Poli.Design (Politecnico di Milano)
Type design lecturer, Corso di alta formazione in Type Design — 2010–2013
Domus Academy, Milan
Lecturer at the Master in Visual Brand Design — 2015–19
IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Milano
Lecturer for the BA in Graphic Design — 2010
Thype!, Turin
Three days workshops and lectures focused on typography and type design — 2010
Master of Design in Type Design, from theType and Media course at The Royal Academy Of Art (KABK), The Hague, The Netherlands. Degree project: «Alice typeface», exhibited in «Don’t believe the type… in Shanghai», 2010 (exhibition focusing on the typographic excellence of The Hague) and in «Type design NL/SK» 2010 (exhibit at the Slovak design centre in Bratislava).
Alice typeface selected for the AWDA AIAP Women in Design Award 2012, both exhibit and catalogue.
Master of Science in Communication Design, Communication of Cultural Heritage (110/110) Politecnico di Milano, School of Design. Research thesis «A hundred years of type in Italy 1813–1908». Supervisor prof. James Clough.
Bachelor Degree in Graphic Design Politecnico di Milano, School of Design.
Marta Bernstein is an international designer, creative director, researcher, teacher, and co-founder of the digital type foundry CAST. She has lived and worked in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Marta has over 15 years of experience delivering award-winning work for brands, cultural institutions, and the built environment. She is currently Creative Director at Studio Matthews in Seattle, where she leads interdisciplinary teams in developing visual identities, wayfinding systems, signage masterplans, placemaking and interpretive experiences, and exhibitions.
She began her career in Milan, as a founding partner of LS Graphic Design, a boutique studio recognized in 2013 as part of the best “New Italian Design” by La Triennale Design Museum.
Type and typography are her passions and the unifying thread across all her work. She has a particular interest in 19th-century type, a subject she has been researching for over a decade. She has spoken at conferences and institutions including Typographics NYC, ATypI, Stanford University, The Letterform Archive, and the Cooper Union. She is a member of the Nebiolo History Project, an independent research collective dedicated to uncovering and studying archival materials from Italy’s most renowned type foundry and its enduring legacy.
Her teaching experience includes roles as part-time faculty at USC Roski, adjunct professor of Typography at Milan’s Polytechnic University, visiting professor in Architecture and Design at the University of Navarra, and lecturer for the Interior Design master’s program at Tongji University in Shanghai.
Marta holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Graphic Design from Milan’s Polytechnic and an M.Des in Type Design from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
