The Pyte Foundry Acrylic Compagnie Kinckq Pyte Legacy Triptych Bibeltype Coop Norge Diller, Scofidio + Renfro Hamran Logotypes Skald Sperling Ultima Vigelandmuseet Vinmonopolet Information The Pyte Foundry Acrylic Compagnie Kinckq Pyte Legacy Triptych Bibeltype Coop Norge Diller, Scofidio + Renfro Hamran Logotypes Skald Sperling Ultima Vigelandmuseet Vinmonopolet Information Information

The Pyte Foundry is an independent type design studio and home of the pytographic paroxysms of its founder Ellmer Stefan. First introduced with its infamous weekly free-font lunacy in 2016, this humble enterprise has since advanced into more — but not much more — serious typographic topographies.

Alongside its offerings of custom letterforms, the foundry’s slowly expanding catalogue of Plain and Ornamental Types seeks to balance functionality with idiosyncrasy, aiming to establish a space where quirks and quality contently coexist.

Licensing

Following the lead of other independent foundries (You know who you are!), the Pyte Foundry is adapting a value-based licensing model with its revamped version of August 2025.

The scope and price of the license is determined by two factors: 1. The intended usage of the fonts (see License Types below) and 2. the total number of employees (not only font users) working for the license owner at the time of purchase.

The license owner is the company, organisation or individual extracting value from the use of the fonts for its visual communication. For the BASIC, EXTENDED and SOCIAL licenses this is the end client commissioning graphic work and NOT the designer, agency, freelancer or other service provider creating graphic work for that client.

Temporary subcontractors (such as designers, freelancers, agencies or developers) working for the license owner do not need a separate license as they are covered by the end client's license.

For details on the licensing terms conduct the End User License Agreement prior to your purchase. For questions and licensing options beyond the provided scope, please get in contact.

License Types
  • The BASIC license covers the most common usage cases such as printed matter, webpages and social media content. It does NOT cover the embedding into apps, software and e-publications, the creation of logotypes, broadcasting or streaming content, production of merchandise articles and embedding into hardware devices.
  • The EXTENDED license is intended for more extensive needs. It covers all the usage of the BASIC license PLUS embedding into apps, software and e-publications, the creation of logotypes, broadcasting or streaming content, production of merchandise articles and embedding into hardware devices.
  • The SOCIAL license is offered at a 25% discount to registered charity and non-profit enterprises as well as projects promoting social rights, social justice and equality. It covers the use for printed matter, webpages, social media content, embedding into apps, software and e-publications, the creation of logotypes, broadcasting or streaming content and the production of merchandise articles.
  • The STUDENT license is offered at a 75% discount to students enrolled at recognised schools, high schools or universities at the time of purchase. It covers all media (print, web, app, social media, logotype, video) for both school assignments and personal projects. Additionally it includes the use for commercial work during and for three years succeeding the educational period.

Trial Fonts

Unlike other foundries, the Pyte Foundry's Trial fonts sport a complete glyph set and full OpenType functionality. This is done in complete trust in its clientele, the appendix TRIAL being the only indicator that the fonts are used without a valid commercial license.

Trial fonts can be requested for download from the respective Typeface pages. They are exclusively intended for preview, testing and evaluation purpose in design mock-ups, sketches, client pitches and presentations. All use beyond testing and assessment requires a commercial license as described above.

For details on the licensing terms of the Trial fonts conduct the End User License Agreement, § 2.5 Trial license.

Services

The Pyte Foundry offers custom typefaces, lettering, logotypes and vector icons as well as typographic consultancy.

The Pyte Foundry promotes a research-based approach in which historical, vernacular and contemporary references actively inform the creation of original letterforms. In lively dialogue with the commissioning client, agency or designer, the Pyte Foundry serves to translate values, visions and concepts into manifest characters.

In recent years the Pyte Foundry has provided letterforms for a wide variety of clients in both the commercial and cultural field; take a look at previously executed projects under Commissions and get in touch to discuss potential collaborations.

Ellmer Stefan

(* 1982) was trained as a «Druckvorstufentechniker» before studying graphic design with a growing tendency towards type in Vienna, Arnheim and Leipzig. After successfully abandoning his studies in 2010, he moved to Oslo (Norway) where he runs a diverse design practice combining self-initiated projects, commissioned work, teaching and research in the expanded field of writing, lettering and typography.

Colophon

The Pyte Foundry ©opyright 2025

All rights reversed, all puns intended.