From hand-painted storefronts and windows to gold-leaf lettering, Abi Davs practice blends vernacular letterforms with contemporary compositions, keeping the craft of rótulos alive in the street and in new media.

A Journey Painted in Letters

Abi’s connection to letter culture started early. Raised around Mexico City’s markets—her parents worked in the Central de Abastos—she grew up surrounded by fluorescent price cards, warehouse signage, and hand-made posters. During the pandemic she moved from an interest in calligraphy and lettering into full sign painting, first on wood and handmade signs and then across varied surfaces and formats.

Her work draws from a wide spectrum of popular type styles favored in the trade—gothic/blackletter, casual/jalón, Arial Black, and chancery variants—translated through her own color sense and composition. In parallel, she explores design and logotypes rooted in Mexican graphic culture, extending rótulo language into digital pieces and product applications.

How She Works

The studio ethos is direct and craft-first: sketch → layout → paint. Abi works across storefront facades, glass, wood, and metal, including gold leaf applications; she also produces logos and one-off signs that travel beyond the street. That versatility—traditional brushwork with production-ready design—shows up consistently in her commissions and process posts.

Alongside client work, Abi experiments with alternative supports (earrings, ceramics, even cookies) to test how letterforms live off the wall—another way the rótulo tradition adapts to new contexts while retaining its hand-made character.

Project Highlight: Femme Hommage (Netflix México)

Recent collaborative work includes Femme Hommage—a large-format piece created with Pentagono Art® and Mario Martínez for Netflix México (approx. 3.45 × 2.8 m; steel curtain with graffiti, acrylic, prints on wall; 2023). The project extends Abi’s street-level typography into an architectural installation, underscoring how rótulo language can scale into contemporary cultural spaces.

Collab with Dia

Abigail's work caught the eye of the Dia team and it was a quick decision to reach out about commission work. They were synced on the vision and even more, the message behind Dia's mission. They eagerly collaborated together on the bag art for Dia Cafe's medium roast coffee blend "Babulu" and what a piece of work it is. Simple, bold, and full of lively heritage. She brought her "A" game on this one.

Community & Collective Work

Abi is part of the broader ecosystem sustaining the trade, including the women-led collective Morras Chidas Rotulando—a platform that uses embroidery, paint, and textiles to amplify voices and protest gender violence, while showcasing the expressive power of hand-lettering.

Selected Highlights

• Living rótulo lineage. Merges Mexico City’s market graphics and street signage with contemporary color and composition.
  
• Traditional techniques, modern briefs. Facades, glass, wood, metal, and gold-leaf applications; logos and digital adaptations.
  
• Expanded supports. From hand-painted signs to jewelry, ceramics, and limited objects—letters designed to move off the wall.
  
• Collaborations & installations. Femme Hommage with Pentagono Art for Netflix México; ongoing commissions documented across platforms.
  

Notes for Fellow Creatives (from Abi’s path)

• Let vernacular lead. Start with the visual language of your place; then refine composition and color for clarity and impact.
  
• Honor the tool. Brush discipline—strokes, rhythm, pressure—translates directly to legibility in the street.
  
• Adapt the craft. Try new supports and digital outputs to keep hand-made type relevant beyond its original context.
  

Quick Bio

• Discipline: Sign painting (rótulos), lettering, design.
  
• Base: Mexico City, Mexico.
  
• Training & Start: From calligraphy/lettering into hand-painted signs during the pandemic; influenced by Mexico City market graphics.
  
• Capabilities: Facades, glass, wood, metal, gold leaf; logos and digital adaptations.
  
• Find Abi: Instagram for commissions and process.
  

Why We Partner with Latin Artists

DIA’s coffee is a cultural experience—from Latin American origins to artist-designed packaging and collaborations. Featuring artists like Abi Dav keeps that story rooted in hand-made letter culture, where everyday commerce, color, and voice meet on the street—and now, in your cup.