Monotype partners with Sharp Type to add 27 font families to library

Exclusive to Creative Boom: Boutique digital type foundry at the vanguard of contemporary typeface culture and design finalises asset sale today.

Sharp Type – the owner of well-known fonts such as Ogg, Sharp Grotesk, Sharp Sans, and Centra – has sold 27 fonts from its current library to typography giant Monotype.

Following the sale, Sharp Type will continue its innovative independent work, creating original, distinctive designs that are used by globally renowned designers and world-class brands.

The collection includes superfamilies such as Sharp Sans, Sharp Grotesk Global, and Beatrice. Fonts that Sharp Type retains after the sale will also be accessible through the Monotype Fonts subscription service.

Lucas Sharp, co-founder of Sharp Type, says: “We are honoured that Monotype has offered to be the steward and benefactor of this legacy collection of Sharp Type fonts. We have been blessed to work with an incredibly talented team of studio members and collaborators to build this collection, and we are proud to witness its impact on the aesthetic culture of our time.

“This partnership allows us to put the entirety of our focus on our new creative pursuits, where our passions truly lie, and leave the care of this collection in the capable hands of Monotype.”

Sharp Type will also be promoted as a premier partner through a Monotype subscription, and its remaining library of fonts will be available through Sharp Type’s own website.

The sale represents an exciting opportunity for Sharp Type’s co-founders – husband and wife duo Lucas Sharp and Chantra Malee – to shift their foundry’s focus towards the expansive new projects they have coming up in 2024 – including ambitious, multilingual and multiscript superfamilies – and move away from the time-intensive work of maintaining the library of fonts that have to date driven the majority of the company’s revenue since its 2015 founding.

Sharp Type views the sale as an exciting show of Monotype’s support of the independent type design community, demonstrating that independent foundries like Sharp Type can work with Monotype to their benefit and still retain their independence and creative integrity.

The company will continue to develop historically conscious, deliberately original typefaces that are used globally by renowned designers and world-class brands such as Dropbox and Samsung.

It was only December last year when Monotype acquired the award-winning Colophon Foundry and its library of 85 fonts.