WTF is VTF?

We are VTF, or the Velvetyne Type Foundry. Since 2010, we’ve designing and distributing free and open source typefaces. We also organise ass-kicking workshops for humans and computers.

VTF was created in 2010 by Frank Adebiaye as a logical continuation of his blog about typography and type design. He started it on his own, but he promptly invited other type lovers to join him in his adventure. The Velvetyne collective was thus born, and it has grown over the years up to the respectable number of 10 brave glyph sorcerers. Learn more about the human behings behind Velvetyne on our “Team” page.

If you want to know more about the way Velvetyne operates, about our license and what you can do with our fonts, how we curate the fonts that are in our catalogue, and what you need to know before submiting us one your fonts, head to our FAQ page.

Why open-source fonts?

- We believe that proprietary fonts aren’t the best tools for certain creative practices, and we think that these original purposes deserve high quality typefaces. We believe that not all graphic or typographic creations should be part of a market economy and we support the freedom to subvert its rules.

- We believe that the SIL Open Font License (OFL) is a good basis to teach people how to create and distribute fonts. We want to popularize typography and type design and make them more accessible to the general public, so that everyone can understand how they work.

- We believe that making type design more open and transparent increases the dynamism of contemporary creation. In that sense, users can continue developing and adapting our fonts according to their own point of view and their particular needs.

- We want to turn Velvetyne into a snazzy playground for type projects that may present a low commercial appeal but that possess an highly poetic, aesthetic or technical value. We wish to encourage and cultivate these contemporary creations at the margins of the mainstream type scene.

WTF can I do with VTF fonts???

All the fonts hosted on Velvetyne are libre and open-source. This means that you can :
1. use them
2. modify them
3. redistribute them
4. redistribute the modified versions.

These rules are true for all personal and commercial works. Velvetyne fonts can be used on any medium you can imagine: poster, logo, magazine, website, app, t-shirt, music video, truck… Remember that you must credit the name of the type designer and of our foundry whenever you use one of our fonts.

If there’s any feature of our fonts that doesn’t suit you, you’re free to change it in order to fit your tastes or your needs. In this case, you have to redistribute your creation under the same licence of the original font. Please don’t hesitate to send us your modified versions of our fonts!

Support and donate

If you like our fonts and our activities, please consider donating to our non-profit organisation. This will allow us to continue distributing new quality, open source fonts and improving our existing catalogue. Visit our donation page.

Let’s keep in touch

We’re always looking for new fonts and new people. If you want to publish a font with us or join our adventure, drop us a mail: vtf1554@gmail.com
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About this website

This website is developed with Processwire and designed by Raphaël Bastide assisted by Étienne Ozeray. Jérémy Landes takes a share of the updates of the site with some help by Anton Moglia. It was developped with ofont, and set in Millimetre, Steps Mono (stretched), Sporting Grotesque and Minipax.