About Sachsenwald

Saschenwald is part of The Wolpe Collection of typefaces, and is the first digitization of this innovative blackletter design. The Wolpe Collection celebrates Berthold Wolpe’s outstanding body of work, and includes five iconic typefaces, digitized and updated by Toshi Omagari of the Monotype Studio.

Berthold Wolpe first created the Sachsenwald typeface for a German publisher, who abandoned the order during World War II. Wolpe then tried to make his Sachsenwald typeface suitable for use in the general public, with the hope that it would ignite a “passing vogue” for blackletter type. But the early use of blackletter type by Nazi Germany, which was later dismissed in favor of Roman type, kept the Sachsenwald design from achieving wider adoption around the world.

When he discovered the Sachsenwald typeface, Toshi Omagari saw the opportunity to revive and preserve a beautiful blackletter design. Toshi adding an alternate X character, and created light and regular weights to accommodate a whole new set of uses.