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About Us
Sharp Type is a global type design studio that offers high-quality typefaces for retail licensing and custom client projects.
At Sharp Type, we are at the vanguard of contemporary typeface culture and design, developing historically conscious, but deliberately original typefaces used globally by renowned designers and world-class brands. Our foundry ensures only the highest level of quality throughout every aspect of the development process including design, production, and management.
Awards & Press
2026 Graffica Magazine – Interview Lucas Sharp
2026 Print Magazine - Feature - Youtube Display
Chantra Malee Interview in Type01 Magazine
2025 Type01 – Interview My-Lan Thuong
2025 Print Awards for Type Design: Sharp Serif Text & Display
2025 Print Awards for Type Design: Rosalie
2025 D&AD Awards for Type Design and Lettering: Rosalie
2025 Type at Paris – Lucas Sharp Interview and Lecture
2025 TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence: Rosalie
2025 Print Magazine – Feature
2025 ADC Awards for Display Typeface: Rosalie
2025 Eye Magazine – Reputations
2023 Monocle Magazine – Exclusive Feature
2026 Print Magazine – Feature
2025 Red Dot Awards for Brand and Communication Design: Sharp Earth Family
2025 TDC Typeface Design Awards: Sharp Roman
2025 Print Magazine - Feature - Cordier Script
2024 AIGA Awards for Typographic Design: Rosalie
2024 AIGA Awards for Typographic Design: Sharp Serif Text & Display
2024 Trendhunter – Feature
2024 Print Magazine – Interview
2024 Communication Arts Award for Best Typeface: Sharp Grotesk Global
2023 The Index – Interview
2022 Lovers Magazine – Interview
2023 Latin Design Awards – Jury
2023 It's Nice That – Insights interview – Women in Type
2022 It's Nice That – Feature – Ghost Typeface
2022 The Index – Feature
2022 Monocle on Design – Podcast Interview
2022 Communication Arts – Exclusive Feature
2020 The Alphabettes – Interview – The Malee Scholarship
2023 Communication Awards for Best Typeface: Ghost
2022 Communication Arts Award for Best Typeface: Greenstone
2021 It's Nice That – Nicer Tuesdays – Video Interview
2021 Design Feaster – Interview
2021 The Baffler – Publishes 'Branding Hillary' by Lucas Sharp
2020 AIGA – Eye for Design Article – Carta Nueva
2020 Its Nice That – Article – Trois Mille
2020 Communication Arts Award for Best Typeface: Doyle
2019 Backstage Talks – Article
2019 Do Things NYC – Interview
2018 Medium – Feature – 11 Modern Independent Type Foundries
2018 European Design Gold Award for Most Original Typeface: Respira
2018 German Design Awards for Excellent Type Design: Sharp Grotesk
2017 Slanted – Article – Respira Black
2017 TDC Typeface Design Award: Sharp Grotesk
2016 Eye Magazine – Article – 'Type on the Campaign Trail'
2016 Type at Paris – Interview
2015 Communication Arts Award for Best Typeface: Ogg
A compelling typeface is the cornerstone of any successful brand. Our typefaces balance precedent with invention, utility with beauty. Our work is informed by our deep knowledge of type design history, the continual evolution of its historical models, and our own artistic process and invention.
2015
Lucas Sharp and Chantra Malee found Sharp Type from their small one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Longtime friend and collaborator Josh Finklea joins at this time, too. The young foundry launches with two big projects that will prove to be early calling cards: Sharp Sans for electronics giant Samsung, and Sharp Sans Display No.1 for Jimmy Fallon’s takeover of The Tonight Show. Ogg wins a type design award from Communication Arts.
Chantra is an entrepreneur. Since childhood, she has launched and managed companies for her family’s business and later worked in branding in New York City, where she lived for 10 years. In 2015, she co-founded Sharp Type, where she handles strategy, brand management, graphic design, sales, and communication, and has been featured in many publications for her involvement in the industry, including Communication Arts, Monocle, Backstage Talks, It’s Nice That, and more. Chantra is the founder of The Malee Scholarship, a nonprofit offering financial support and mentorship to women from underrepresented backgrounds entering the type industry.
Chantra Malee, co-founder, ceo
Lucas has been designing award-winning original typefaces for over a decade. In addition to designing his own typefaces, Sharp serves as the type director of the foundry, offering guidance, art direction, and mentorship to the type design team. Sharp has designed typefaces for major brands and organizations, including Samsung, Dropbox, and Pentagram. Sharp’s typefaces have been honored by the TDC, the European Design Awards, and more. He co-founded Sharp Type in 2015.
Lucas Sharp, co-founder, type director
TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence for Ogg
Communication Arts 5th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Ogg
2016
Chantra and Lucas move from NYC to Spain, trading in their Chinatown one-bedroom for a beautiful Carmen in Granada with a view of the Alhambra. During this productive spell, Lucas finishes the first version of Sharp Grotesk, their largest typeface to date. Connor Davenport also enters the picture: the recent MICA grad flys out to spend a month with them as their first intern, and, shortly thereafter, their first full-time employee. Lucas’s scriptface Frauen is featured throughout seminal food journal Lucky Peach, and designer Francesco Franchi picks Sharp Grotesk for Italian magazine, La Repubblica.
Print Magazine Typography Merit Winner for Frauen
Eye Magazine — Type on the Campaign Trail
Type Paris — Lucas Interview
2017
The co-founders decamp to Madrid. Lucas finishes Respira, a contemporary blackletter inspired by Andalusian Illuminated manuscripts, and the foundry releases it on Earth Day, with all proceeds going to the NRDC. Longtime collaborators Justin Sloane and Eric Carter are commissioned to design posters for the occasion. Sharp Grotesk is chosen by Collins for Dropbox’s rebrand, which remains one of the most comprehensive in-use projects for a typeface. Sharp Grotesk also receives an award from the TDC.
Communication Arts 7th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Sharp Grotesk
TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence for Sharp Grotesk
Slanted — Respira: Charitable Font
2018
From their new home in Madrid, Chantra and Lucas travel to Vienna, where they are interviewed for Backstage Talks; that same year, they also publish an interview with Chantra. Ogg, Lucas’ iconic display face, is featured in Spanish magazine Neo. Sharp Grotesk wins the German Design Awards, while Respira is awarded “Most Original Typeface” by the European Design Awards.
Communication Arts 8th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Beatrice Display
Gold European Design Award for Most Original Typeface for Respira
German Design Award — Sharp Grotesk
Medium — 22 Modern Independent Foundries
Do Things NYC — Sharp Type
2019
My-Lan Thuong and Calvin Kwok fly to Madrid, where they join the team as type designers. With a growing studio, Chantra and Lucas make the decision to move back to New York City and establish an office in Manhattan. The studio expands in other ways, too: Chantra founds The Malee Scholarship, a grant and mentorship program established to support women in type design who come from underrepresented backgrounds. Beatrice Display, Lucas’ indelible exercise in inverted contrast, is chosen by RoAndCo for their annual publication Romance Journal.
My-Lan has been passionate about drawing funky letters since before she knew it existed as a design discipline. She graduated from ÉSAD Amiens with a BFA in Graphic Design and from the École Estienne in Paris with an MFA in Type Design. She collaborated with Coppers and Brasses before joining Sharp Type in March 2019 as the foundry’s Senior Type Designer. Her specialties are calligraphic and experimental styles.
My-Lan Thuong, typeface designer
Calvin is a typeface designer with a BA in Visual Communication from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading. After an enriching internship at Apple Inc.'s Type team, he officially joined Sharp Type in March 2019, where he currently serves as the Technical Director. He concentrates on multilingual type design, typography, and font technology, demonstrating a keen interest in the nuances of the field.
Calvin Kwok, typeface designer
Communication Arts 9th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Trois Mille (3000)
Backstage Talks — Chantra Malee
2020
Newly-minted plans for an NYC studio are disrupted by COVID-19. Sharp Type reorganizes as a global, remote-based studio. Chantra and Lucas move to San Francisco, and the rest of the team disperses to their respective home cities. The studio releases two virtuosic typefaces this year: My-Lan’s Carta Nueva, and Trois Mille by French type designer Marc Rouault, who joins as a regular collaborator. The co-founders also interview Untitled Macao about the design studio’s prolific use of Sharp Type’s fonts. Lucas and Marc are awarded by Communication Arts for their design of Doyle.
Justin is a designer, artist, and independent publisher working in West Los Angeles. He has collaborated with Wolff Olins, 2x4, Sharp Type, The Aperture Foundation, and many others. Justin has been part of exhibitions at MoMA PS1, The MoMA Library, Printed Matter, The Tokyo Institute of Photography, and The Museum of Arts and Design. He joined Sharp Type full-time in November of 2020.
Justin Sloane, Lead systems designer and typeface designer
Communication Arts 10th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Doyle
Alphabettes — The Malee Scholarship
Eye On Design — Carta Nueva
It’s Nice That — Trois Mille
2021
Sharp Type continues to grow, hiring NY-based Theodore Jahng as content director. The studio finishes work on a comprehensive custom typeface system for the communications giant, Twilio, and Marc’s latest typeface, Tarnac, is released. At the year’s end, the studio produces The Yule Ogg, a type-centric take on the holiday classic featuring one of Sharp Type’s most beloved fonts.
2022
The full-time team, including newly-hired client liaison Zyanya Rodriguez, gathered in San Francisco for a studio retreat. Days at the Letterform Archive and evenings around shared meals and games strengthened the bonds that shape our practice. The studio and its work are featured in the March issue of Communication Arts, and Livewire, an electric motorcycle brand, appropriately uses Trois Mille for its logotype. Josh Finklea publishes Octave in the fall, and the first Sharp FM mix debuts alongside its release. Connor receives a Communication Arts award for Greenstone.
Zyanya studied Tourism at the University of Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid although her professional career has been focused on Retail and Customer Service for the past 15 years. She started her career in Massimo Dutti. Her passion for fashion and design led her to work for international luxury brands such as Tods and Tumi, managing not only sales but also client relationships and product training courses. She joined Sharp Type in February 2023 as a Client Liaison.
Zyanya Rodriguez, client liason
Communication Arts 12th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Greenstone
It’s Nice That — Nicer Tuesdays
Communication Arts — Sharp Type
Monocle on Design Podcast — Sharp Type
It’s Nice That — Ghost
The Index — Sharp Type
It’s Nice That — Nicer Tuesdays
Lovers Magazine — Chantra Malee Interview
2023
The team travels to Chantra’s hometown of Newport, Rhode Island, where they are interviewed by the world-renowned publication Monocle for their autumn design issue. The foundry also releases the first-ever video trial font to preview Sharp Earth Latin. Léna Le Pommelet joins the team as a full-time type designer, and Calvin moves into his new role as technical director. Lucas begins teaching at The Letterform Archive’s esteemed Type West program. The studio also develops custom versions of Sharp Grotesk for Prime Video and Amazon Music simultaneously.
Léna is a type designer, and her work is influenced by her affection towards calligraphy, stone carving, handmade letters and vernacular typefaces. She attended École Estienne in Paris for Type Design and then obtained her MA at Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2021. She collaborated with type foundries TyPetr and Coppers and Brasses prior to joining Sharp Type as a type designer in September 2023.
Léna Le Pommelet, typeface designer
Communication Arts 13th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Ghost
It’s Nice That — Women in Type
It’s Nice That — Global Type Around the World
Latin Design Awards — Chantra Malee (Juror)
It’s Nice That — Malee Scholarship Announcement
Monocle Feature
Lucas Sharp teaches workshop at Letterform Archive
2024
Launch, launch, launch: the team focuses all its energy on the release of a new website and Volume One, Sharp Type’s first book publication. This year also saw the debut of Sharp Earth, the foundry’s expansive multi-script type family-a milestone project that reflects years of collaboration and research across global writing systems. The studio also celebrated new releases from team members, including Hauss & Raum by Justin Sloane and Rosalie by My-Lan Thuong.
Communication Arts 14th Annual Typography Competition Winner for Sharp Grotesk Global
My-Lan gives a lecture at Atypi in Brisbane Australia
Sharp Type feature in Eye Magazine
Print Magazine- Malee Scholarship
2025
Sharp Type welcomed Meghan Oemcke in early summer as Content Manager. Lucas and Chantra returned to Newport, Rhode Island, where they are preparing to establish a new studio headquarters. This year marked an important step forward in the studio’s ongoing research and innovation: the introduction of the OmniLatin Tool, a resource designed to help designers build typefaces with comprehensive Latin coverage. Alongside this, Sharp Type released several new collaborative projects and continued to grow its Season Two library. 2025 was also a year of remarkable recognition, with the studio receiving numerous international awards and features celebrating its contributions to contemporary type design.
Meghan Oemcke graduated in 2024 with a BA in Creative Arts from Siena College, where she focused on photography, costume design, and creative direction. That creative lens shaped her work with Libertad Co., where she assisted in producing web content and photography across brand campaigns. She joined Sharp Type in 2025 as the studio’s Content Manager, overseeing social media and its brand strategy.
Meghan Oemcke, content manager
Eye Magazine - Reputations
ADC Awards for Display Typeface
Print Magazine - Feature
TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence
TDC Typeface Design Awards: Sharp Roman
Type at Paris - Lucas Sharp Interview and Lecture
D&AD Awards for Type Design and Lettering: Rosalie
Print Awards for Type Design: Rosalie
Print Awards for Type Design: Sharp Serif Text and Display
Type01- Interview with My-Lan Thuong
Red Dot Awards for Brand and Communication Design: Sharp Earth Family
Notable Clients
Pentagram, Samsung, Royal Danish Theater, Condé Nast, Abigail Kirsch, BBC, La Repubblica, Dropbox, Prudential, Virgin Voyages, Mars, Inc., Discovery Channel, Expedia, Yahoo, Amazon, Prime Video, Twilio, Discover, US Olympics, Augustinus Bader, Cisco Systems, Carmax, JKR, SidLee, Venmo, Grey Global, Paramount, Mindvalley, Oppo, Bare Minerals, GM