The word Batok comes from the Kalinga equivalent of the word tattoo. Pambabatok is a highly respected art form that is engraved in the Filipino culture. It used to be for tribes’ headhunters and women going through rites of passage, but nowadays many tourists visit Kalinga to get a tattoo from the oldest and ‘last’ mambabatok, Apo Whang-Od.
Batok is a sharp and expressive typeface inspired by the ancient ethnic Philippine art of hand-tapped tattoos. The spikes reflect the thorns that are used to tattoo the body with.
Batok works great when set large as posters, headings, editorial projects, merchandise design, or simply just as a text overlay to a background image.
Batok Karayom is the thin variant of the upcoming font family Batok. Karayom translates to “needle” in Tagalog.
