Type foundry
Encyclopedia
A type foundry is a company
that designs
or distributes typeface
s. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices
for line-casting machines like the Linotype
and Monotype
machines designed to be printed on letterpress
printers. Today's digital type
foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces (typically as digitized fonts
) created by type designers, who may either be freelancer
s operating their own independent foundry, or employed by another foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services.
In England, type foundries began when William Caxton
introduced the printing press
. Thereafter the City of London
became a major centre for the industry, until recent times when famous metal-based printing districts such as Fleet Street
came to the close of their era. The industry was particularly important in Victorian times
, when education became available to all due to the new School Boards, and firms such as Charles Reed & Sons were in their heyday. The St Bride Printing Library in the City of London encourages wider public interest in the remarkable history of typefounding for the printed book and newspaper.
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
that designs
Type design
Type design is the art of designing typefaces.- History :Although the technology of printing text using movable type was invented in China, and despite the esteem which calligraphy held in that civilization, the vast number of Chinese characters meant that few distinctive, complete fonts could be...
or distributes typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices
Matrix (printing)
In hot metal typesetting, a matrix is a mold for casting a letter, known as a sort, used in letterpress printing....
for line-casting machines like the Linotype
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
and Monotype
Monotyping
Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The image is then transferred onto a sheet of paper by...
machines designed to be printed on letterpress
Letterpress printing
Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...
printers. Today's digital type
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
foundries accumulate and distribute typefaces (typically as digitized fonts
Computer font
A computer font is an electronic data file containing a set of glyphs, characters, or symbols such as dingbats. Although the term font first referred to a set of metal type sorts in one style and size, since the 1990s it is generally used to refer to a scalable set of digital shapes that may be...
) created by type designers, who may either be freelancer
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
s operating their own independent foundry, or employed by another foundry. Type foundries may also provide custom type design services.
In England, type foundries began when William Caxton
William Caxton
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. As far as is known, he was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England...
introduced the printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
. Thereafter the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
became a major centre for the industry, until recent times when famous metal-based printing districts such as Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
came to the close of their era. The industry was particularly important in Victorian times
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, when education became available to all due to the new School Boards, and firms such as Charles Reed & Sons were in their heyday. The St Bride Printing Library in the City of London encourages wider public interest in the remarkable history of typefounding for the printed book and newspaper.
Corporate type foundries
- Adobe TypeAdobe TypeAdobe Systems’ division of typography is an innovator in font technology and design, Adobe was a forerunner in the development of PostScript Type 1 and Type 3 font formats and OpenType technology, as well as being an established digital type foundry....
, a division of Adobe Sys Inc.Adobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States... - Apple Inc.
- LetrasetLetrasetLetraset is a company based in the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate in Ashford, Kent, UK.It is known mainly for manufacturing sheets of artwork elements which can be transferred to artwork being prepared. The name Letraset was often used to refer generically to sheets of dry transferrable lettering of...
- BitstreamBitstream Inc.Bitstream Inc. is a type foundry that produces digital typefaces . Founded in 1981 by Matthew Carter and Mike Parker among others, it claims to be the oldest such company...
- Monotype ImagingMonotype CorporationMonotype Imaging Holdings is a Delaware corporation based in Woburn, Massachusetts and specializing in typesetting and typeface design as well as text and imaging solutions for use with consumer electronics devices. Monotype Imaging Holdings is the owner of Monotype Imaging Inc., Linotype,...
- International Typeface CorporationInternational Typeface CorporationThe International Typeface Corporation was a type manufacturer founded in New York in 1970 by Aaron Burns, Herb Lubalin, and Edward Rondthaler. The company was one of the world's first type foundries to have no history in the production of metal type...
(ITC) a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging - Linotype GmbH a subsidiary of Monotype Imaging, Located in Germany
- International Typeface Corporation
Large form type foundries
- Ascender CorporationAscender CorporationAscender Corporation is a digital typeface foundry and software development company located in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Illinois in the United States...
- Berthold
- Elsner+FlakeElsner+FlakeElsner+Flake is a trademark used by German type foundry originally called EF Designstudios but later renamed Elsner+Flake Type Consulting GmbH and is currently based in Hamburg...
- EmigreEmigreEmigre, also known as Emigre Graphics, is a digital type foundry, publisher and distributor of graphic design centered information based in Berkeley, California, that was founded in 1984 by husband-and-wife team Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko. The type foundry also published Emigre magazine...
- Font BureauFont BureauThe Font Bureau, Inc. or Font Bureau is a digital type foundry based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The foundry is one of the leading designers of typefaces, specializing in type designs for magazine and newspaper publishers....
- FontFont, a division of FSI FontShop InternationalFSI FontShop InternationalFSI FontShop International is an international manufacturer of digital typefaces , based in Berlin and one of the large type foundries that exist today.All the typefaces are published as part of the FontFont library...
- Hoefler & Frere-JonesHoefler & Frere-JonesHoefler & Frere-Jones is an influential type foundry in New York City, run by designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. With both their similarities and their likings it was only a matter of time that both their paths would come across and would have became business partners. Both Hoefler...
(H&FJ) - House IndustriesHouse IndustriesHouse Industries is a type foundry and design studio based in Yorklyn, Delaware. The company was created in the 1990s in Wilmington, Delaware by co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat. The company is best known for its typeface creations, which have appeared on television , in film House Industries is...
- Microsoft Typography, a division of Microsoft CorpMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
- Neufville (Fundición Tipográfica Neufville)
- Paratype
- T26
- URW++ (URW)
Independent type foundries
- 2Rebels
- Aerotype
- Alphabet Soup Type Founders
- Altered Ego Fonts
- Apply Interactive
- Astygmatic One-Eye
- Atomic Media
- Baseline Fonts
- BlambotBlambotBlambot is the name of an online type foundry and is the alias of freeware and shareware computer font designer Nate Piekos. Blambot specializes in script and display typefaces for use as lettering in both print and online comics.- Nate Piekos :...
- CampotypeCampotypeCampotype, is an independent type foundry in Indonesia. Campotype come from two words: campoong and type . Campoong, mean kampung or village . Campotype's complete meaning is font village.The Campotype foundry has been developed in riches of Indonesian culture...
- Canada Type
- Cape Arcona Type FoundryCape Arcona Type FoundryThe Cape Arcona Type Foundry was founded in Essen, Germany in 2002 by designers Thomas Schostok and Stefan Claudius. The Cape Arcona Type Foundry is an independent type foundry that produces and distributes digital typefaces...
- Chank DieselChank DieselChank Diesel, also known as Charles Andermack, is a contemporary type designer. He was born in Canada and raised in the U.S. state of Florida.-Biography:Chank was born Charles Anderson, but neighbors called him "Chanky," after Spanky from the Little Rascals...
- Characters Font Foundry
- Colophon Foundry
- ComicraftComicraftComicraft is a company which provides graphic design and lettering services to various companies.-History:The company was founded by Richard Starkings in 1992. Starkings had been working for Marvel UK for five years, but left London for New York, circa 1990...
- Crazy diamond design
- Cubanica
- Dalton Maag
- Discourse Type
- Darren Scott Typographics
- DSType
- Emtype Foundry
- Feliciano Type Foundry
- Fewell Foundry
- Fontcraft
- Font Diner
- FontHaus
- Fonthead Design
- Fontosaurus
- Fountain
- Galapagos Design Group
- GarageFonts
- Greater Albion TypefoundersGreater Albion TypefoundersGreater Albion Typefounders is a small, independent digital type foundry based in Perth, Western Australia that creates and markets fonts for personal and commercial use. The name reflects the 19th century design ethos of the founder, Paul Lloyd...
- JY&A Fonts
- Identikal
- insigne Design
- Larabie Fonts/Typodermic
- LettError
- Lineto
- Misprinted Type
- MVB
- Nick's Fonts
- OurType
- Playtype
- P22 Type FoundryP22 type foundryP22 type foundry is a digital type foundry from Buffalo, New York, that develops and markets typefaces for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. The name P22 has no specific significance and was used prior to the type foundry as a label for various art projects including an ambitious mail art...
- PSY/OPS Type Foundry
- Sandoll Communications
- Scriptorium FontsScriptorium FontsScriptorium Fonts is an Austin, Texas based type foundry founded in 1992 by game designer, editor and historian Dave Nalle. It specializes in adaptations of antique fonts and fonts based on artistic hand lettering drawn from the work of famous artists and calligraphers like Alphons Mucha, William...
- SelfBuild Type Foundry
- Stone Type Foundry
- Storm Type Foundry
- Sudtipos
- Suitcase Type Foundry
- Test Pilot Collective
- The Type Fetish
- Thirstype/Village
- Tour De Force Font Foundry
- Typeco
- Typographies.fr
- TypothequeTypothequeTypotheque is a type foundry and design studio from The Hague, Netherlands that develops and markets original typefaces for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. The typefaces sold under the Typotheque foundry label are designed by Slovakian Peter Biľak, including the popular Fedra Sans and Fedra...
- Underware
- Zang-O-Fonts
- Webfont Foundry
- WC Fonts
Specialty type foundries
- PunchcutPunchcut-Operation:Punchcut is a design consulting company in San Francisco, and in New York, United States focused on user interface design for consumer electronics devices; primarily mobile devices, portable electronic devices and television....
— Distributors of typefaces for handheld screens (mobile phones)
Active metal type foundries (letterpress)
- Quaker City Type Foundry
- The Dale Guild Type Foundry
- Mackenzie & Harris Type Foundry
- Skyline Type Foundry
- Bell Type and Rule Company a 78 year old Type Foundry.
Defunct (historic) type foundries
- American Type FoundersAmerican Type FoundersAmerican Type Founders was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States...
- Barnhart Brothers & SpindlerBarnhart Brothers & SpindlerBarnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Foundry was founded as the Great Western Type Foundry in 1873. It became Barnhart Brothers & Spindler ten years later. It was a successful foundry known for innovative type design and well designed type catalogs. Oz Cooper, Will Ransom, Robert Wiebking, and...
- Bauer TypeBauer Type FoundryThe Bauer Type Foundry was a German type foundry founded in 1837 by Johann Christian Bauer in Frankfurt am Main. Noted typeface designers, among them Lucian Bernhard, Konrad Friedrich Bauer , Walter Baum, Heinrich Jost, Imre Reiner, Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler, Emil Rudolf Weiß, and Heinrich...
- Binny & RonaldsonBinny & RonaldsonBinny & Ronaldson established the first permanent type foundry in the United States. Founded in Philadelphia in 1796 by the Scots Archibald Binny and James Ronaldson....
- Bruce's New York Type Foundry
- Charles Reed & Sons
- Deberny & PeignotDeberny & PeignotDeberny & Peignot was a French type foundry, created by the 1923 merger of Peignot foundry and the Laurent & Deberny foundry. It was bought by the Haas Type Foundry of Switzerland in 1972, which in turn was merged into D...
- Golding & CompanyGolding & CompanyGolding & Company is a defunct American type foundry established in 1869 by William Hughson Golding in the Fort Hill area of Boston, Massachusetts.-History:...
- GrafotechnaGrafotechnaGrafotechna was a Czechoslovakian type foundry, created in 1951. It ceased to exist after 1990...
- Gujarati Type Foundry
- Inland Type FoundryInland Type FoundryThe Inland Type Foundry was an American type foundry established in 1894 in Saint Louis, Missouri and later with branch offices in Chicago and New York City...
- Louis PouchéeLouis PouchéeLouis John Pouchée , was a London type founder and entrepreneur.-Career:Pouchée is first recorded as the proprietor of Alamode Beef and Veal House and Pouchée & Co Coal Merchants , both in Holborn, but it was in 1818 that Pouchée established his type foundry in Lincoln's Inn Fields...
- Mackellar, Smiths & Jordan
- Stephenson BlakeStephenson BlakeStephenson Blake was a British Type foundry, based in Sheffield, England. Active from the 19th century until the 1990s, it remained the last active typefoundry in Britain.-Type Founding:...
- VEB TypoartVEB TypoartVEB Typoart was the only type foundry of East Germany. It was a state-owned enterprise located in Dresden. The foundry's most influential art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser and Albert Kapr.-History:...
Type distributors/vendors
- Fonts.com (Monotype CorporationMonotype CorporationMonotype Imaging Holdings is a Delaware corporation based in Woburn, Massachusetts and specializing in typesetting and typeface design as well as text and imaging solutions for use with consumer electronics devices. Monotype Imaging Holdings is the owner of Monotype Imaging Inc., Linotype,...
) - FontHaus
- FontShopFontShopFontShop was founded in Berlin in 1989 by Erik Spiekermann and Joan Spiekermann, who were then husband and wife, and Neville Brody. FontShop was the first font reseller in digital type history. There are four independent FontShops in Austria, Benelux, Germany, and the USA.FSI FontShop International...
- MyFontsMyFontsMyFonts is a digital fonts distribution, location based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, selling fonts through the web site. It launched in September 1999 , and started selling fonts in March 2000....
(Bitstream Inc.Bitstream Inc.Bitstream Inc. is a type foundry that produces digital typefaces . Founded in 1981 by Matthew Carter and Mike Parker among others, it claims to be the oldest such company...
) - Phil's Fonts
- type.co.uk (Fontworks UK Ltd)
- TypekitTypekitTypekit is a service launched in September, 2009 by Small Batch, Inc. which, via JavaScript and a subscription service, allows webmasters and designers to embed non-standard, non-system-specific fonts into online documents. It uses the recently implemented @font-face CSS property and is available...
- Veer (CorbisCorbisCorbis Corporation is an American company, based in Seattle, Washington, that licenses the rights to photographs, footage and other visual media...
)