Independent type foundries in 2026 – An update to the old Typewolf list

‘If you’ve never read Orwell, you really should because he’s great.’ Monopolype Imaging (2014) It seemed like just yesterday Jeremiah Shoaf at Typewolf had drawn up his list of independent type foundries following Monotype acquiring FontShop. In fact, that was in 2014. Much has changed since then, and much else has not. Many new type foundries have come up over the last decade and plenty others have disappeared. What had not changed is Monotype’s acquisition spree. A quick recap for those who are unaware, or simply do not care, about typography: Monotype was a British type company founded in some form in 1887 and eventually listed on the stock exchange in London in 1936 and then changing hands a few times until now when they are owned by an American private equity firm. At various points in history they acquired licences to or their team designed several well-known typefaces including Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial, Gill Sans, Baskerville, Bembo, Erhardt, Garamond, Plantin,…

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