A platform for typefaces
FontShop International was a Berlin-based digital type foundry associated with the FontFont library. Its history involves Joan Spiekermann, Erik Spiekermann and Neville Brody, and contributions from many independent type designers. Joan Spiekermann, Erik Spiekermann and Neville Brody founded FontShop, the first German reseller of typefaces, on June 12, 1991, and started an independent type foundry a year later. They commissioned a few young type designers to make the first few FontFonts. FontShop International was one of the largest digital type foundries.
Foundry and distribution
The library included work by designers such as Martin Majoor, Albert-Jan Pool, Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum. Monotype acquired FontShop International in 2014. Distinguishing the foundry, its typeface library and the FontShop retail platform helps clarify the roles gathered under the familiar name. The FontFont library contains designs by 160 type designers, among them Peter Biľak, Evert Bloemsma, Neville Brody, Hans Reichel, Fred Smeijers and Erik Spiekermann. The aim of FontFont is to offer typefaces by designers for designers. In August 2023 Monotype announced that it would close the FontShop e-commerce site, together with Linotype and Fonts.com.
Where to begin
Begin with a single FontFont family and trace its designer, specimen and distribution context. Then compare another family’s approach to the same typographic task. This makes the platform’s contribution easier to assess without assigning every typeface a shared visual style. FontShop is useful to study as an infrastructure for publishing and finding design work as well as a recognizable brand within digital typography.
