The logo of Bulgaria Moderna. Also, a self-portrait (in retrospect).

The Bulgaria Moderna font was born in 2010, during an unusually hot London summer. I was struggling to find a job in pre-Brexit Britain, at a time when its politicians still hesitated to admit that Bulgarians like me weren’t welcomed in their country.

The font was a labor of love, inspired by homesickness and determination to prove I hadn’t lost my creative mojo. Over the course of the next few years—which I spent in Spain, whe...