Rewriting the rules: TYPE01’s Amber Weaver explains ALT.tf’s fresh approach to type partnerships

What began as a folder of female type designers on Amber Weaver’s laptop has evolved into something far more ambitious. ALT.tf, the official foundry of what was formerly the Femme Type initiative, represents a fundamental shift in how type foundries operate – moving beyond traditional transactional relationships to establish genuine creative partnerships. Rather than simply commissioning fonts, Weaver and Creative Director Giulia Boggio have built a model where designers retain part ownership and ongoing royalties, ensuring collaborative decision-making throughout a typeface’s lifecycle. In this interview, Weaver explains how this approach isn’t just about creating beautiful fonts, but actively addressing the diversity imbalance within the type design industry from the inside out. PT: Hey Amber! Could you tell us a bit about how ALT.tf’s collaborative model differs from traditional type foundry approaches? AW: To be direct, I don’t actually know the answer to this question because I would need to know, in detail, how the other type foundries handle their collaborations with designers, which I don’t have access to. Now I know a few, but not all, so rather than guess how ours differs, I can simply outline what ours is.