Originally drawn by Walter Haettenschweiler in 1954, derived
from an assignment by Ernst Keller at Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich,
and made as an improvement over Commercial-Grotesk (Haas, 1940). No
lowercase. [Swiss Type
Design] Included in Lettera vol. 1, an alphabet
source book edited by Alex Stocker and Armin Haab. Also known
simply as Schmalfette (“Bold Condensed”).
Adopted by Photoscript for phototype and shown as
Schmalfette Grotesk with Schmalfette
Outline [Photoscript c.1965] and a wider
Haettenschweiler Extended, all with added lowercase
[Photoscript 1968]. Photo-Lettering’s
Dandy and Swiss Gothic are other phototype
adaptations. The latter adds a lowercase and several variants
[PLINC 1965] .
The digital Haettenschweiler (Ascender/Microsoft,
1993–1995) appears to be based on Photoscript’s wider extension.
“I never received a single cent, but
at least they named it after me.” — Walter
Haettenschweiler
Schmalfette CP (CounterPoint Type Studio, 2016),
used for the sample, is a more faithful (although likewise
unauthorized) revival made by Jason Walcott at the suggestion of
Rob King. Jeremy Mickel made a custom
version in 2016 for Pentagram. In 2022, Carsten Wolff released
his digitization named More…
Originally drawn by Walter Haettenschweiler in 1954, derived from an assignment by Ernst Keller at Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, and made as an improvement over Commercial-Grotesk (Haas, 1940). No lowercase. [Swiss Type Design] Included in Lettera vol. 1, an alphabet source book edited by Alex Stocker and Armin Haab. Also known simply as Schmalfette (“Bold Condensed”).
Adopted by Photoscript for phototype and shown as Schmalfette Grotesk with Schmalfette Outline [Photoscript c.1965] and a wider Haettenschweiler Extended, all with added lowercase [Photoscript 1968]. Photo-Lettering’s Dandy and Swiss Gothic are other phototype adaptations. The latter adds a lowercase and several variants [PLINC 1965] .
The digital Haettenschweiler (Ascender/Microsoft, 1993–1995) appears to be based on Photoscript’s wider extension. “I never received a single cent, but at least they named it after me.” — Walter Haettenschweiler
Schmalfette CP (CounterPoint Type Studio, 2016), used for the sample, is a more faithful (although likewise unauthorized) revival made by Jason Walcott at the suggestion of Rob King. Jeremy Mickel made a custom version in 2016 for Pentagram. In 2022, Carsten Wolff released his digitization named Fleckhaus, together with a looser interpretation named Wolff.
Between 2017 and 2022, Guillaume Sbalchiero made an authorized digitization with a newly added lowercase. Released in 2023 by Diorama Type Partners with permission of the Walter F. Haettenschweiler family and the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich.
