Altesse
RELEASED BY:
Typofonderie ☞
DESIGNERS:
Jean-Francois Porchez
RELEASE DATE:
Week 15
DETAILS:
• Altesse is a formal script font family inspired by copperplate engravings and historical French script models.
• Available as a family of 5 fonts, each a different optical size.
LINKS:
From the Foundry:
“Altesse is a typographic adaptation of the scripts engraved by the French copperplate masters from the 19th and 20th centuries. Free from the constraints of metal type, Altesse, designed in 5 optical sizes, allows you to rediscover the pleasure of automated calligraphy. With its thirty-eight OpenType functions and 1557 glyphs, the possibilities are infinite or almost.
Altesse is not the revival of a particular reference, it is a contemporary interpretation of various nineteenth-century engraved sources. Its designs are directly influenced by the French copperplate engravings in use over the centuries.”
NOTES:
It’s great to see a beautiful script typeface released by a French foundry, designed by a frenchman, and inspired by iconic french formal scripts released by another quintessential french foundry. I dunno, it all just lines up. I mean, who else could release this typeface!? Even the letters themselves look French. Like the way the little ear nubs on the lc r and s just squish up so proudly, the way the curves loop around with a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, or how the word shapes made with the letters are elevated in demeanor by the little moments of expression. Altesse has a life in its curves that is seldom found in formal scripts due to the rigidity of their making and expectation of their time.
I appreciate the historicalness referencing with Altesse. It’s a good thing that JFP reached into the archives to inform this family, but did not let them restrict it. It would be very easy to make a pixel-perfect digital copperplate or historically accurate engraver’s script, but I’m glad that Altesse was able to do the harder thing and reach back to a time when these fonts were made by human hands, to make sure that the warmth, personality, and expression only ownable by this style of script was not lost. The offering of optical sizes is what brings it into the 21st century, making it useable and helpful to modern digital users.
I think I’m an old-fashioned soul, perhaps a punch-cutter in a past life. And I’ve always said that everyone needs a good script font in their library… you never know when you’ll need it. Lately that’s been a challenge, relying on some of the first digital script files as go-to players to call in off the bench. Altesse is a strong pick to add some depth and versatility, should your design work ever need it.
