Haas Type Foundry

Haas Type Foundry
Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei

Industry	Type foundry
Founded	1600's
Founder(s)	Jean Exertier
Defunct	1989
Headquarters	Basel, Switzerland
Key people	Johann Wilhelm Haas

Haas Type Foundary buildings in Münchenstein, Switzerland

Haas Type Foundry (Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei) was a Swiss manufacturer of foundry type.

History

Haas traces its origins back the to printer Jean Exertier who began casting type during the second half of the 16th century, later passing to the Genath family. In 1718, Johann Wilhelm Haas (1698–1764) from Nuremberg was hired. He later inherited the company as recognition of his efforts. After 1740, the business was run under the Haas name. In 1927 the Stempel Foundry acquired a shareholding in the Haas foundry and the two foundries begin to share matrices. Haas purchased the French foundries Deberny & Peignot in 1972, and Fonderie Olive in 1978. With Linotype’s acquisition of the D. Stempel AG in 1985, they became the majority shareholder. In 1989, Linotype shut down the Haas Foundry, retaining the rights to the typefaces, and transfering metal typefounding operations to Walter Fruttiger AG.^[1]

Typefaces

These foundry types were produced by Haas^[2]:

• Boutique, a nineteenth century face.
• Cevalier
• Clarendon (1951-53, Hermann Eidenbenz)
• Diethelm Roman (1948-50, Walter Diethelm), later by Linotype (Frankfurt) (1957).
• Etienne (1902) originally cast by Wagner & Schmidt, later cast by Stempel and Amsterdam Type foundry.
• Helvetica (1957), Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann, inspired by Akzidenz-Grotesk
• Ideal Roman (1941), a nineteenth-century design, later cast by Stempel as Jeannette

References

1. ^ "Font Designer – Haas Type Foundry". Linotype. 2011-11-22. http://www.linotype.com/3394/haastypefoundry.html. Retrieved 2011-11-22. 
2. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 2408-249