TypeMates: a straightforward font foundry.
For years, we — Jakob, Lisa and Nils — have been passionate about type and in 2015 we started working together, from our offices near Munich and Hamburg, as a type foundry.
Selected Clients
During the last years we had the pleasure to work with the following clients.
Nils Thomsen
Nils is co-Founder of TypeMates. He is focused on extending the typeface collection and implement letter shapes with ease.
Ever since he was a child, Nils has been captivated by graffiti and this early fascination bloomed into a love of letterforms. Pursuing this interest, Nils completed his studies at Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel, and his master’s degree in the postgraduate Type and Media course in The Hague. Worked at Bureau ErlerSkibbeToensmann in Hamburg and contributed to new corporate typeface of German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Nils’s typefaces in the Font Collection: (among others) Pensum Pro, Meret, and Halvar
Jakob Runge
Jakob is co-Founder of TypeMates, sensing designs for bespoke type and cares about project management.
From studying communication design at the University of applied sciences in Würzburg (BA) Jakob Runge has been fired by letters and type systems. At Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel (MA), his master’s project became a successful textface at FontFont. Alongside working in the design industry, Jakob is active in typographic education, running numerous workshops at universities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, he has been a lecturer for typography and type design at FH Münster from 2011.
Jakobs typefaces in the Font Collection: (among others) Cera Pro, Halvar, Harrison and Grato Super-Family
Lisa Fischbach
As Managing Partner of TypeMates Lisa is balancing technology and the effect of custom typefaces in brand identities.
With expertise in type and graphic design, Lisa’s understanding of how type is made and used forms the cornerstone of her identity as a type designer. She studied the Bachelor at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel. Paired with an excursion into the fine arts during a semester at the University of Seville. After working in developing Corporate Identities in the agency Format Design in Hamburg, she moved to England, where she successfully completed her Master's in Typeface Design at the University of Reading in 2014. As a surrogate she teaches the course in typography and font design at the FH Münster.
Lisa's typefaces in the Font Collection: Edie & Eddy, Kaius Pro, Cera Round Pro, Harrison and Halvar
Natalie Rauch
Natalie is a Berlin based type designer who joined TypeMates part-time as a font developer in order to take care of custom and retail fonts.
After studying Communication Design and focussing on type design and typography at HTW Berlin, Natalie decided to do her Masters in Typeface Design at the University of Reading (UK) in 2014. Since then she has independently worked on several (multi-script) projects for different clients and type foundries. She is always eager to delve into new writing systems and spreads her letter love by teaching students in “Digitale Schriftgestaltung” at AID Berlin since 2018.
Natalie's typefaces in the Font Collection: Rumiko Sans and Rumiko Clear
Paul Eslage
With TypeMates creative Paul is working on custom fonts and type related graphics.
During his bachelor studies at the Münster School of Design Paul was focussing on communication design and worked on several magazine, branding and exhibition projects. There he also attended Jakob’s type design course, which sparked Paul’s passion for designing letters. Right now he lives and works in Hamburg, pushing and challenging his knowledge about type design, branding and kinetic design systems in his master studies at the department design of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg).
Paul’s typefaces in the Font Collection: Sombra and Halvar Stencil
Meet our Mates
We love to collaborate and distribute typefaces by other type designers.
Jürgen Schwarz
In 1999, when Jürgen Schwarz visited the Ortwein School of Art and Design in Graz, communication design became a passion for him. After more than four years working as a graphic, exhibition and editorial designer in Austria, he sought distant shores — and went to Germany.
In Würzburg (BA) and in Potsdam (MA), he deepened his specialist knowledge and worked as a freelance designer for select projects. The two universities offered him the opportunity to develop his enthusiasm for type and typography; and this resulted in him working with Jakob and designing the typeface Muriza, released in 2014. From 2015, Jürgen has worked as a designer specialised in corporate and information design. He considers type and typography essential elements in his professional practice.
Jürgen’s typeface in the Font Collection: Muriza.
Mona Franz
Mona is a freelance designer specialized in type and corporate design. She teaches type and typography at Hochschule München. In 2018, Mona graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague with a TypeMedia master’s degree. In her final project, she developed Bridge Head and Text, typefaces now published by TypeMates. Her professional experience includes working with corporate agencies like MetaDesign Berlin, Martin et Karczinski and Blackspace, and the fabulous foundry Bold Monday. Due to her special interest, jobs that made use of her vector skills kept landing on her desk: the refresh of the Lufthansa crane logo, and the research and briefing for the new Lufthansa typeface. Mona loves to connect people and build bridges between different design disciplines.
Mona’s typefaces in the Font Collection: Bridge Head and Bridge Text plus Gratimo Grotesk and Gratimo Classic.
Max Kostopoulos
Max Kostopoulos created his first fonts during studies dedicated to the design of lettering through analogue design methods. In 2010, he launched 26+ with Jakob and ever since they have gone on to plan and manage numerous workshops on type design at several universities of applied sciences. After studying communications design at the universities of Würzburg (BA) and Mainz (MA), Max was Art Director of Corporate Design, Corporate Publishing and Interactive Design in Mainz and Hamburg and is currently working in Munich.
Max’s typeface in the Font Collection: Cera Brush.
Timo Titzmann
Timo studied communication design and media at the Hochschule Wismar. During a guest semester in Berlin, he attended lectures by Luc(as) de Groot at the Fachhochschule Potsdam where he designed the font "Say it fat". Through the font he got to know Jakob Runge with whom he developed the font "TJ Evolette A" shortly thereafter. The ftypeface immediately gained international recognition and had a strong influence on contemporary design. Since then, Timo is working as a freelance and multidisciplinary designer, typographer and artist in Germany.
Timo’s typeface in the Font Collection: TJ Evolette A.
Andrej Dieneš
A lover of cycling, hiking, summer and fresh air from Bratislava, Andrej’s direction in life starts with his love of shape. After studying graphic design at AFAD in Bratislava and typography at AAAD in Prague, he devoted himself to type design and founded Adtypo, where he publishes his own fonts. His interest in new perspectives on familiar type forms gives an experimental touch to his work.
Andrej’s typeface in the Font Collection: Resonay
Philipp Neumeyer
Philipp was born and raised in the high mountains of Northern Germany. He graduated from the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel before completing the postgraduate Type and Media course at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague. After some back and forth between Berlin and Copenhagen, and working for LucasFonts and Playtype, Philipp settled in Berlin where he creates custom and retail typefaces as an independent type designer.
Philipp’s typeface in the Font Collection: Norbert, Juneau, Ottessa, Yuni Slab and Elma Mono & Trio
Teja Smrekar
Teja is an independent type designer based in Slovenia. She graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana where she became fascinated by letterforms and typography. In 2014 she continued her studies at the University of Reading (UK) where she completed a Master’s degree in Typeface Design.
She often collaborates with clients from all over the world. Alongside her type design practice she loves challenges in graphic design projects. Her passion for handmade fonts led her to establish Flehatype font foundry. She teaches a typography class at the Faculty of Design in Ljubljana.
Teja’s typeface in the Font Collection: Grato Marker