FORVM
Coppers and Brasses · Étienne Aubert Bonn · 2024
A two-style family by Étienne Aubert Bonn drawing from two distinct periods of Roman inscribed letterforms, one with near-zero contrast and open terminals, the other with controlled contrast and flared endings.
About
FORVM Lineal looks to the earliest Roman letter cutting, where contrast barely registers and endings splay open, with alternate characters that retain traces of Greek ancestry. FORVM Roman takes a later Imperial model, taming contrast and treating serifs as flared terminals rather than bracketed wedges, giving it classical authority with a quieter finish than Trajan-derived faces. The two styles are designed to work in tandem, their spacing rhythms calibrated to complement one another across centuries of typographic history.
Classification
FORVM Roman draws from later Imperial Roman inscriptions with flared terminals rather than conventional serifs, while FORVM Lineal references early Roman letterforms with near-zero contrast and open endings, placing the pair in classical Roman revival territory.