Silesianum
Capitalics · Mateusz Machalski, Henryk Sakwerda, Karol Mularczyk, Weronika Kanigowska, Małgorzata Bartosik, Borys Kosmynka · 2024
A contemporary revival of Henryk Sakwerda's 1986 Monitor typeface, reconstructed from original drawings and expanded into a full eight-style family for the first time.
About
Originally designed for phototypesetting on strictly defined character widths, Monitor by Henryk Sakwerda (1942–2017) was only ever realised in a single Regular weight and never crossed into digital use. Mateusz Machalski led a team of five over nearly three years to reconstruct, digitise and expand the family to Regular, Medium, SemiBold and Bold with matching italics, working from scans of Sakwerda's original drawings. The sharpness and organic texture of the letterforms — a direct trace of Sakwerda's calligraphic hand — is central to what makes this revival substantive rather than merely archival.
Classification
The typeface derives from Henryk Sakwerda's 1986 Monitor, which exhibits sharp organic calligraphic letterforms rooted in humanist tradition; its phototypesetting origins and calligraphic texture place it firmly in the humanist serif category.