The Klim Type Foundry is a digital type foundry operated by Kris Sowersby, a New Zealand typeface designer. Klim was founded in 2005 and is currently based in Wellington. Klim produces retail typefaces, custom typefaces and custom lettering and logotypes. Sowersby has garnered many international awards for his typefaces.

Kris Sowersby

Sowersby, born in 1981, graduated from the Wanganui School of Design in 2003. 'Feijoa', his first retail typeface, was released in 2007, followed by 'National'. National first gained him international recognition, winning a

Type Directors Club The Type Directors Club (TDC) is an international organization devoted to typography and type design, founded in 1946 in New York City. TDC believes that type drives culture, and that culture drives type—and is dedicated to cataloging, showcas ...

award in 2008. His typefaces 'Hardys' and 'Serrano' won the same recognition in 2009. Sowersby has collaborated with other notable designers, including Christian Schwartz and

Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design. Biography Spiekermann studied art hi ...

in the design of 'FF Meta Serif'. Sowerby's lettering also appears in the logos for the

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

and the Bank of New Zealand.

Major projects

Pure Pākati

In 2015 Sowersby created a custom typeface for

Tourism New Zealand Tourism New Zealand is the marketing agency responsible for promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Ac ...

with Rangi Kipa, Philip Kelly and Karl Wixon. Sowersby devised letterforms which were carved on blocks of

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

by Kipa, which were then inked, printed and digitised to create the typeface.

Financial Times redesign

In 2014 Sowersby was commissioned to produce a new custom typeface, 'Financier', for the redesign of the business and economics daily newspaper, the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

. The Financial Times' head of design stated that the paper wanted "an elegant, authoritative serif with the versatility to handle news and features stories (in the arts, science and sport, as well as finance)” and a connection to its 'British heritage'. Sowersby has noted that he looked to typefaces by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

in his research for the new typeface. 'Financier' was awarded a gold pin in New Zealand's Best Awards in 2015.

Air New Zealand

In 2012 Sowersby was commissioned, with design company Designworks, to create custom lettering for New Zealand carrier

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...

National Geographic redesign

Since the brand's 2016 refocusing on "smart science" across all media, it has gradually transitioned to a bespoke type palette. Their first commissioned typeface was Grosvenor, a custom version of Klim Type Foundry's Tiempos with longer extenders, for article text in '' National Geographic'' magazine. In 2018, this was accompanied by Geograph, a geometric sans serif, replacing Hoefler & Co.'s Verlag across all branded media. These two new types were accompanied by two new headline faces and a new magazine nameplate from Tal Leming starting in the May 2018 issue.

Hokotohu

In 2007, Sowersby, under direction of DNA Design, designed ‘Hokotohu’, with its serifs based on Rākau momori, for th
Hokotehi Moriori Trust

PayPal

In 2014, the

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

product team commissioned Klim to create a typeface that “should be fluid, delightful, easy, calm and humanistic.” It should also be “mobile-first, numeral-centric” and “space-efficient”. After three different approaches, the foundry settled for 'Dutch', made with inspiration from

Jan van Krimpen Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

's ''Romulus Sans Serif''. This later became ''PayPal Sans'', which has two subfamilies: ''PayPal Sans Big'', and ''PayPal Sans Small''.

References

External links

Klim Type Foundry

Feature on Sowersby online at Computer Arts

Interview with Sowersby
online at '' Eye'' magazine
Kim Hill interview with Kris Sowersby

Radio New Zealand National RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...

, 10 October 2015 *Lecture a
Typographics 2017
festival, 17 June 2017.
Ockham Lecture Series
{{Authority control Type foundries Companies based in Wellington