RESTORING THE LEGACY OF AN ICON

Signage restoration & elevation for Café Brasilero

Café Brasilero storefront

THE PROJECT

Café Brasilero is one of Montevideo’s most iconic historical cafés, founded in 1877. The brief was simple but monumental: restore the street-facing signage to reflect the café’s legacy, elegance, and cultural weight.

The existing signs were poorly executed—featuring typographic mistakes and cheap materials attempting to mimic gold. The goal was to return the signage to its rightful standard with dignity, historical sensitivity, and visual beauty.

Gastón working at Café Brasilero

MY ROLE

  • Design of custom lettering inspired by the café’s original 19th-century aesthetic

  • Redrawing and refining a new “Café Brasilero” wordmark based on typographic clues found on-site (notably the engraved “1877” at the entrance)

  • Execution of glass gilding (gold leaf on glass) for two large street-facing panels

  • Oversaw surface prep, layout, gilding, cleanup, and final protection

Gastón finishing details on storefront lettering

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

  • One of the key moments was decoding the original identity of the café from architectural remnants—essentially a typographic restoration job.

  • I combined historical reverence with design judgement, carefully balancing the original feel with slight refinements and my own visual language.

  • The gold leaf technique used (23k loose leaf on glass) required high precision and steady execution. It was the most technically demanding and prestigious technique in my repertoire, reserved only for projects of this calibre.

Café Brasilero 1877

OUTCOME

The end result brought new life to one of the city’s oldest and most beloved establishments. The signage now matches the gravitas of the space and has become a point of pride not just for the owners, but for Montevideo’s historic downtown.

It also positioned my practice as one of the few capable of this kind of high-end traditional gilding work in the region.

LET’S WORK

Have a wall, a window, or a creative project in mind?

Whether it's a custom mural, a hand-painted sign, a lettering workshop — or you’re looking to collaborate on something visual with character — I’d love to hear from you.