Description
Kunsthalle is based on the cover of the exhibition catalogue and poster by Armin Hofmann, Moderne Malerei seit 1945 aus der Sammlung Dotremont, Kunsthalle Basel, 1961. The goal was to transpose Hofmann’s original thin lettering — where each character was drawn individually with irregular strokes — into a coherent typeface while preserving its essence. The design revives the geometric construction of Roman capitals: the “O” as a perfect circle, the “S” derived from a semicircle, and other letters built from a synthesis of strokes and arcs. This method, taught in Basel as an initiation to type design (and more broadly to graphic design) in the foundation program — commonly referred to as basic design — began with sequences of straight strokes, then obliques, then semicircles. These exercises first produced abstract compositions that gradually evolved into letterforms and ultimately complete letters. In Kunsthalle, these principles manifest in open junctions between strokes and circles, allowing air to flow through the forms and giving the typeface its distinctive balance between monumentality and lightness.
Information
Design
Production
Styles
Files Formats
Glyphs
Release Year
Single weight
Alex Lescieux
2021–2025
1
otf, ttf, woff, woff2
774
2025
From 90€
OT Features
aalt
ccmp
locl
subs
sinf
sups
numr
dnom
frac
ordn
lnum
pnum
tnum
onum
case
liga
ss01
ss02
ss03
ss04
Access All Alternates
Composites
Localized Forms
Subscript
Scientific Inferiors
Superscript
Numerators
Denominators
Fractions
Ordinals
Lining Figures
Proportional Figures
Tabular Figures
Oldstyle Figures
Case-Sensitive Forms
Standard Ligatures
Alternate A
Alternate N
Alternate U
Circled Numbers
Languages
Afrikaans, Albanian, Asturian, Asu, Basque, Bemba, Bena, Breton, Catalan, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Embu, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, Ganda, German, Gusii, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jola-Fonyi, Kabuverdianu, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Koyra Chiini, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lower Sorbian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malagasy, Maltese, Manx, Meru, Morisyen, Northern Sami, North Ndebele, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Nyankole, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Prussian, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Serbian, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Taita, Teso, Tongan, Turkish, Upper Sorbian, Uzbek (Latin), Volapük, Vunjo, Walser, Welsh, Western Frisian, Yoruba, Zulu
Unicode Blocks
Basic Latin
Latin-1 Supplement
Latin Extended-A
Legacy Character Sets
MacOS Roman (Standard Latin)
MacOS Central European Latin
MacOS Celtic
MacOS Croatian
MacOS Iceland
MacOS Romanian
MacOS Turkish
8859-1 Latin-1 Western European
8859-2 Latin-2 Central European
8859-3 Latin-3 South European
8859-4 Latin-4 North European
8859-9 Latin-5 Turkish
8859-10 Latin-6 Nordic
8859-13 Latin-7 Baltic Rim
8859-15 Latin-9
8859-16 Latin-10 South-Eastern European
MS Windows 1250 Central European Latin
MS Windows 1252 Western (Standard Latin)
MS Windows 1254 Turkish Latin
MS Windows 1257 Baltic Latin
Adobe Character Sets
Adobe Latin-1
Adobe Latin-2
Description
Kunsthalle is based on the cover of the exhibition catalogue and poster by Armin Hofmann, Moderne Malerei seit 1945 aus der Sammlung Dotremont, Kunsthalle Basel, 1961. The goal was to transpose Hofmann’s original thin lettering — where each character was drawn individually with irregular strokes — into a coherent typeface while preserving its essence. The design revives the geometric construction of Roman capitals: the “O” as a perfect circle, the “S” derived from a semicircle, and other letters built from a synthesis of strokes and arcs. This method, taught in Basel as an initiation to type design (and more broadly to graphic design) in the foundation program — commonly referred to as basic design — began with sequences of straight strokes, then obliques, then semicircles. These exercises first produced abstract compositions that gradually evolved into letterforms and ultimately complete letters. In Kunsthalle, these principles manifest in open junctions between strokes and circles, allowing air to flow through the forms and giving the typeface its distinctive balance between monumentality and lightness.
Information
Design
Production
Styles
Files Formats
Glyphs
Release Year
Single weight
Alex Lescieux
2021–2025
1
otf, ttf, woff, woff2
774
2025
From 90€
OT Features
aalt
ccmp
locl
subs
sinf
sups
numr
dnom
frac
ordn
lnum
pnum
tnum
onum
case
liga
ss01
ss02
ss03
ss04
Access All Alternates
Composites
Localized Forms
Subscript
Scientific Inferiors
Superscript
Numerators
Denominators
Fractions
Ordinals
Lining Figures
Proportional Figures
Tabular Figures
Oldstyle Figures
Case-Sensitive Forms
Standard Ligatures
Alternate A
Alternate N
Alternate U
Circled Numbers
Languages
Afrikaans, Albanian, Asturian, Asu, Basque, Bemba, Bena, Breton, Catalan, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Embu, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, Ganda, German, Gusii, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jola-Fonyi, Kabuverdianu, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Koyra Chiini, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lower Sorbian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malagasy, Maltese, Manx, Meru, Morisyen, Northern Sami, North Ndebele, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Nyankole, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Prussian, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Serbian, Shambala, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Taita, Teso, Tongan, Turkish, Upper Sorbian, Uzbek (Latin), Volapük, Vunjo, Walser, Welsh, Western Frisian, Yoruba, Zulu
Unicode Blocks
Basic Latin
Latin-1 Supplement
Latin Extended-A
Legacy Character Sets
MacOS Roman (Standard Latin)
MacOS Central European Latin
MacOS Celtic
MacOS Croatian
MacOS Iceland
MacOS Romanian
MacOS Turkish
8859-1 Latin-1 Western European
8859-2 Latin-2 Central European
8859-3 Latin-3 South European
8859-4 Latin-4 North European
8859-9 Latin-5 Turkish
8859-10 Latin-6 Nordic
8859-13 Latin-7 Baltic Rim
8859-15 Latin-9
8859-16 Latin-10 South-Eastern European
MS Windows 1250 Central European Latin
MS Windows 1252 Western (Standard Latin)
MS Windows 1254 Turkish Latin
MS Windows 1257 Baltic Latin
Adobe Character Sets
Adobe Latin-1
Adobe Latin-2