Celebrating a Decade of Calligraphy, Design & Letterforms

It’s December 2024, and I’m writing this article to celebrate my own tenth anniversary as an independent creative business of one. This marks a huge milestone for me, and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you and express my gratitude for all of it: The Good, The Bad and everything else in between.

Ultimately, this journey is not just about my creative outcomes, but about what I’ve learned and who I’ve become after a decade of dancing with calligraphy, creativity and letterforms. Here’s how it all started— I hope you’ll enjoy the ride!

Photo credit: Mark Lobo from Foliolio. Self-promotional image announcing my first solo exhibition in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia.

2014 | The Beginning: A sudden Shift

Photo credit: Mark Lobo from Foliolio.

Illustrated cocktail artwork created in 2015 for my first solo exhibition called ‘Breaking The Ice’.

2015 | Showing Your Work Publicly

At the beginning of 2015, a cocktail venue in Melbourne reached out and offered me their space to host my first solo exhibition. They suggested I expand my series of illustrated cocktail artworks, which I did. I also introduced pattern prints featuring the ingredients of each cocktail.

This exhibition was a dream come true and kept me highly motivated for the first six months of the year. This was my second year as an independent designer, relying mostly on my income from teaching, which was just barely supporting me.

In November 2015, I opened my solo show called Breaking The Ice, which featured a total of eight illustrated cocktail artworks, five pattern prints, and two wood engravings. The opening night was a wonderful celebration of facing fear and overcoming obstacles. However, things began to shift in my mind immediately afterward.

After the exhibition, I felt lost, asking myself too many questions: What’s next? When will I get paid again? Where am I going now? I was truly scared.

Lessons learned:

1. Show your work publicly; you never know who is watching! New Amsterdam found my first two illustrated cocktail artworks on Instagram and offered me their space soon after.
2. Scheduling an exhibition opening right before the holiday season turned out to be great timing, as many people bought prints as gifts.
3. After a solo exhibition, take a break! I discovered the meaning of “exhibition blues” in the worst possible way.
4. The most challenging part of a freelance career is the financial uncertainty; its counterpart is what I love the most: the freedom of being self-employed. At that point, I chose the latter.



Design credit: Post number 97 of my Shit Series called ‘Dipship’. One fish asks another fish “how’s the water?” The other fish replies, “what the hell is water?” David Foster Wallace.

2016 | Overcoming Creative and Personal Challenges

I started 2016 at a real low. Nothing positive was coming to mind, and I began publishing on Instagram a series of artworks centered around the theme of “shit” because, honestly, that’s how I felt.

My Shit Series became a two-year project, growing organically to include one hundred lettering pieces from those dark times. It was raw, real, and surprisingly resonated with a lot of people. This series helped me process my own emotions and connected with a broader audience, becoming a powerful tool for playing, healing, and connection.

Lessons learned:

1. Humor, vulnerability, and public healing can be powerful tools for connection.
2. By being open to people’s contributions, I learned a lot about Australian slang and culture, turning it into a highly collaborative project.
   

2017 | Long-term Project Management

During the first quarter of 2017, a few major milestones occurred:

• I turned forty.
• I became an Australian citizen after ten years of living in the country.
• I promised myself I would publish my first independent font family.
• I was invited to give my first public talk in Australia at the Typism Conference.

I remember 2017 as the year lettering became mainstream, with everyone and their neighbor wanting to learn about it. Suddenly, my four calligraphy courses for the year were sold out immediately, giving me the financial room to plan ahead and decide how to spend my weekdays.

In February 2017, I purchased a Glyphs App license and began working on a display font. The plan was to invest only three months full-time, as this was supposed to be a one-weight, uppercase-only font. In reality, the project evolved quickly, becoming a seven-weight chromatic font family for display purposes.

The intense nine months of full-time work taught me a lot about myself and opened up new international opportunities, including an invitation to host a retrospective solo exhibition at a Contemporary Art Center in Spain, where I am originally from.

Lessons learned:

1. Releasing a font is a long process, making it easy to lose focus and efficiency.
2. I love working with color, and during the nine-month font development, I missed it a lot.
3. I love working on tactile projects, so I stopped the font development for two weeks to paint a couple of skateboard decks and balance the intense digital working hours on my computer.
4. By giving my first public talk at the Typism Conference, I found my voice. I understood my responsibility to open up and tell my story, hoping it would help others to see themselves reflected in my journey and be proud of who they are.

Design credit : Green Fairy font family displaying its seven chromatic weights.

2018 | Exhibiting Your Work Internationally

At the beginning of 2018, I was invited to give my second keynote presentation at The Design Conference in Brisbane. Two weeks before my conference talk, my Green Fairy font was finally published, giving me the sweet opportunity to announce it in front of an audience of seven hundred people.

In June 2018, after six months of working remotely on my exhibition’s design, content, curation, and production, I opened my second solo show in Spain. This marked one of the happiest moments of my life, surrounded by friends, family, and a dream team of professionals at La Panera in Lleida.

The exhibition, titled What a Shitshow, displayed four years of independent design practice, featuring textiles, font design, packaging, illustration, calligraphy, and lettering across five glorious walls.

Lessons learned:

1. Publish your work and share it with the world! The invitation to host my solo show in Spain came from a curator who followed me on Instagram and fell in love with my Green Fairy font.
2. Everything in your career and life is connected. You may not see it in the present, but over time, things often become more evident in hindsight.

Photo credit : Contemporary Art Center La Panera, Lleida. Solo Exhibition called ‘What a Shitshow’, 2018.

2019 | Navigating Health Scares and Mental Health

At the end of 2018, I was diagnosed with melanoma, which was a huge wake-up call. It made me reflect deeply on my life and career, and it brought anxiety crashing to the surface. Therapy became a necessary step, and though I thought I was ready to keep going after just a few sessions, the reality was that managing my mental health would be an ongoing process.

Seeking more financial stability, I accepted a role in January 2019 teaching calligraphy, typography, and lettering at RMIT University. I thought this job was another milestone in my professional life, but I didn’t fully appreciate a few important facts: I was still struggling with my mental health, I had a lot on my plate, and I didn’t give myself a break.

Lessons learned:

1. Running a creative business can be challenging, and the constant pressure to produce and achieve can wear you down. Therapy, mindfulness, and learning to practice self-compassion have been crucial in helping me stay on track, both creatively and personally. This ongoing journey of self-care has been essential in sustaining my creativity and overall well-being.
2. Teaching twelve self-motivated students is not the same as teaching 150 young designers.
3. A bad experience cannot overpower everything else.
4. Never take good health for granted.

Quote credit: ‘Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor’ by American writer Anne Lamott.

2020 | Unlocking Creative Blocks

During the first twelve weeks of the pandemic, I worked from my bedroom on a series of Neuland and Blackletter pieces, deepening my understanding of these styles and exploring personal expression. An example is the piece above with the caption: “One of the highlights of my lockdown is that I haven’t worn a bra in seven weeks. Every little pleasure counts!”

While self-generated work decreased considerably during the pandemic, it never dried up completely. Each personal project I completed brought me immense joy.

One such project was my growing skate deck collection, which I began in 2014 as a playful celebration of anniversaries with my partner. Despite struggling with poor mental and physical health, in July 2020, I art-directed my best pair of decks to date under the theme RGB Low-Res Lifestyle.

Lessons learned:

1. Curiosity can be your superpower for unlocking creative blocks—use it!
2. Go out and look up. Broaden your perspective by staying in touch with nature and wildlife. Remember how small you are and the privilege of being alive.
3. Stay connected with culture outside of lettering. Step out of your creative bubble.
4. Read, read, read—especially about topics not directly related to your work.
5. Visit a bookstore and get inspired by beautiful contemporary work. This can reignite the fire inside you and showcase current trends in the editorial world.
6. Keep a diary of your thoughts. What seems trivial now may lead to a surprisingly good idea in the future.
7. Follow your curiosity and keep pulling the thread, even if it takes you to unexpected places.

Calligraphy credit: ‘The days are long but the years are short’. Blackletter calligraphy by Maria Montes.

2021 | Teaching and Diversifying Income Streams

One of the most unexpected and fulfilling parts of this journey has been teaching. From 2012 onwards, every morning, one hour before opening my laptop, I practiced calligraphy as a mindful creative exercise, sharpening my eye and learning to see. Other graphic designers in my co-working space began to show interest in my practice, eventually asking if I could teach them.

With the help of my friend Lauren Vilitati, who emailed every graphic designer we knew in town, I hosted my first six-week calligraphy course in May 2014, teaching in English for the first time.

In the early years, my courses were super affordable, as I ran them at my partner’s studio, Rotson, offering Spanish tapas for lunch. So even if students didn’t care about letterforms, they cared about my delicious cooking!

Teaching, something I hadn’t considered before, turned out to be a perfect counterbalance to the solitary weeks spent immersed in my own thoughts. Over time, teaching calligraphy became a major part of my life and one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.

During the pandemic, inspired by Tara Brach’s free YouTube lectures, I released my first educational video, which now has over 230,000 views.

Post-pandemic, my in-person calligraphy education—massively disrupted by two years of strict restrictions in Melbourne—transitioned to an online education business. This shift opened worldwide opportunities but also resulted in losing many Australian students who only considered the in-person format.

Currently, I offer pre-recorded calligraphy courses, live online group and private tuitions, license my illustration work, sell limited edition art prints, monetize my YouTube channel, and work on commercial commissions. The balance between passive and active income streams shifts constantly, much like modern life itself.

Lessons learned:

1. Teaching recharged me more than it drained me.
2. It connected me with others, offered a new way to learn, and brought me immense joy.
3. Diversifying income streams can be crucial to sustaining a creative practice.

Design credit: ‘Copperplate Calligraphy Retreat’  Monoline script vector lettering by Maria Montes.

2022 | Traveling All Over to Find Yourself

Travel has also played a big role in shaping my journey. In 2022, my partner and I transferred Rotson Studio after eight beautiful years. We stored everything we owned, and began a nomadic life outside of Australia.

We have been moving around for the last two and a half years, changing accommodations every one to three months, crossing continents, and figuring it out as we go. In the middle of all this, I was commissioned an editorial piece by Pentagram. I completed the project and recently received a Communication Arts Magazine and Type Directors Club typographic award of excellence… Who's crying? Not me, for sure!

Lessons learned:

1. Moving constantly is fun, very tiring, and somehow addictive.
2. A fluctuating routine has forced me to be more agile and adaptable—two things I’m not naturally great at.
3. Many things I thought were impossible turned out to be doable, offering new perspectives and inspiring my work in unexpected ways.
4. Creativity is a journey, not a destination. It’s a process of continuous growth, learning, and adaptation.
5. Celebrate every milestone and learn from every challenge.

Design and calligraphy credits: Maria Montes

Creative director: DJ Stout

Art director: Stu Taylor
Design Firm: Pentagram

2023 | Reading and Writing: Tools for Learning and Reflection

At the end of 2023, I read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I consider the ultimate creative mental health guidebook. Around this time, I also joined a Substack page by the same author called Letters From Love, where you write a weekly letter to yourself—using different prompts—in the most compassionate, supportive, friendly, and kind way possible.

This practice has become transformative, helping me find a new voice that speaks to me from the heart rather than the head. It has been a challenging yet deeply rewarding journey.

I also read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, which got me into the habit of writing three pages every morning before anything else. This private exercise allows me to meditate on the page, something I feel very comfortable with due to my mindful calligraphy practice.

Lessons learned:

1. Over the years, I have kept a diary, written articles, and maintained a decade-long bi-monthly newsletter. These practices have helped me stay connected to my creative voice, track my progress, and share my experiences with others. In many ways, writing has been as integral to my creative process as drawing or designing, providing clarity and insight into my own journey.
2. Continuous learning and self-reflection are essential. Creativity isn’t static; it evolves, and I’ve made it a point to keep learning, whether through formal education or personal exploration.

Design credit: ‘Never stop learning’. Neuland calligraphy by Maria Montes.

2024 | Articulating Future Goals

As I celebrate this ten-year milestone, I feel incredibly grateful for the experiences, challenges, and opportunities that have shaped my journey. The past decade has taught me that creativity is about more than just the work we produce—it’s about who we become in the process. It’s about resilience, adaptability, and the courage to keep going, even when the path is unclear.

Looking ahead, I’m committed to continuing my creative practice, sharing my knowledge, and exploring new opportunities wherever they may lead. Most importantly, I’m committed to taking care of myself and enjoying the process every step of the way.

Lessons learned:

1. Manifest by creating work you want to be hired for.
2. Dream out loud and write it down! I’ve been considering two projects for a while: writing a book and hosting a fourth solo exhibition. I don’t know when or how this will happen, but I’m putting it out there for the Universe to align a few planets for me!
   

Design credit: Good Shit Takes Time by Maria Montes.  I want to get there faster, I want to see results sooner and I want to make shit happen quicker… But sometimes, it is not possible. Often, good shit takes up a big chunk of time and it all comes down to embracing your day a day and enjoying the process, and I am very much working on it.

Photo credits: Magic Johnston co-working space, Naarm (Melbourne), 2014. Nau Bostik co-working space, Barcelona, 2024.