Amsterdam’s Krulletters

Letters and Lager

They belong to Amsterdam much as pubs belong to London: bruin cafés—intimate, traditional establishments frequented by locals and, for the most part, still largely untouched by gentrification and the excesses of tourism. What unites these cafés, beyond their preserved local character, are the often playful letterings at their entrances, known as krulletters.

With only a few hours at my disposal to visit some of these cafés, I was joined by Ramiro Espinoza, type designer and author of De Amsterdamse Krulletters. He guided me to a selection of his favourite letterings, offering rich insights into the history and present-day practice of these so-called curly letters.

Letters and beer—what a remarkable combination.

Café ‘Karpershoek’, Martelaarsgracht 2

Café ‘Hoppe’, Spui 18-20

Café ‘’t Molentje’, Singel 278

The Amsterdam tradition of krulletters can be traced back to the signwriter Wim Visser, who, from the 1940s onwards, produced numerous façades for bruin cafés on behalf of the Amstel Brewery. The style was later continued by Leo Beukeboom, who maintained the practice until he was forced to give up painting in 2003 following a stroke.

In his highly recommended book De Amsterdamse Krulletters, Ramiro Espinoza traces the typographic origins of these letterforms, recounts in detail the work of both signwriters, and—accompanied by the atmospheric photographs of Rob Becker—offers a compelling overview of the approximately fifty surviving original inscriptions.

Since the publication of his book in 2015, Ramiro Espinoza has repeatedly received reports of purported new discoveries. While these often prove not to be genuine krulletters, a number of previously undocumented examples have nevertheless come to light.

Others, however, have been lost for good—through renovation, changes in ownership, or simply accidental damage. In one particularly striking case, a guest, following a dispute, smashed all the windows of a café, thereby destroying the krulletters in the process.