VEB Typoart
| Company type | Volkseigener Betrieb (state-owned enterprise) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Type foundry |
| Predecessor | J.G. Schelter & Giesecke, Schriftguss AG, L. Wagner Type Foundry, Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Fate | Filed for bankruptcy in 1995 |
| Headquarters | Dresden , East Germany |
Key people | Herbert Thannhäuser (art director until 1963), Albert Kapr (art director until 1987) |
| Parent | Zentrag (from 1970) |
VEB Typoart stood as the exclusive type foundry in East Germany, functioning as a state-owned enterprise ("Volkseigener Betrieb") headquartered in Dresden. Among its prominent art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser (serving until 1963) and Albert Kapr (until 1987).
History
Founded in 1948 by the government of the German Democratic Republic, VEB Typoart emerged through the consolidation of several nationalized type foundries, including J.G. Schelter & Giesecke, Schriftguss AG, L. Wagner Type Foundry, and Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei. The company was initially called Schriftguß KG Dresden (1945), then renamed VEB Schriftguß Dresden in 1958, before adopting the name VEB Typoart in 1951.
Beginning in 1970, Typoart operated under the umbrella of Zentrag, the state organization responsible for printing industries within the GDR. Its primary objective was to create typefaces tailored for Eastern Germany and other countries within the Eastern Bloc, frequently producing adaptations of Western designs that Zentrag was unable to legally license.
After the German reunification, Typoart was transformed into a private entity named Typoart GmbH in 1990. However, it filed for bankruptcy in 1995 following the collapse of a proposed acquisition by Compugraphic. Numerous original matrices, including those for Jan Tschichold's Saskia typeface, were lost during this period, though some employees managed to safeguard a selection of matrices, design drawings, and digital files. The legal ownership of Typoart’s typeface copyrights remains uncertain; nevertheless, certain fonts have been digitally reissued by other foundries, notably Elsner+Flake. A collection of matrices is preserved at the Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig.
Typefaces
Among the significant typefaces produced by Typoart were:
References
External links
- Typowiki entry for VEB Typoart (detailed catalogue of typefaces)
- Typoart-Freunde