What it does
Coppers and Brasses designs retail typefaces and custom typography. Its catalog ranges from Agena Display’s multiple widths to Ilisarniq, a free family combining Latin letters with Inuktitut syllabics.
Agena Display’s condensed, narrow, standard and wide variants provide useful options when poster headlines vary in length. Triade offers backslanted, upright and slanted forms, making direction another choice. Use the family text composer to compare the actual words, and consult the PDF specimen for the characters included in that particular release.
Ilisarniq has a different purpose. Developed for the Kativik school board with community input, it coordinates Latin and Inuktitut syllabics in ten styles and is offered free. Its family page includes editable samples and zero-price style selections. The foundry’s other retail families are paid.
The commercial agreement provides perpetual use for the named organisation, including its websites and permitted digital products. Contractors can use the fonts on that organisation’s behalf and must remove them when their work ends. The FAQ also separates altering outlined artwork from modifying a font file: adjusting letters in a finished design is allowed, but generating a revised font requires permission. Custom type and lettering services are available for more substantial changes.
Strengths
- The catalog includes coordinated widths and directional variants.
- Ilisarniq offers free Latin and Inuktitut syllabic fonts.
- The FAQ explains character checks and the boundary between artwork and font-file changes.
Watch out for
- Character coverage varies by family.
- Commercial files cannot be reused by contractors for unrelated clients.
Best for
- Display systems with several width requirements
- Projects using Latin and Inuktitut syllabics
- Custom typography and lettering briefs
Sources
- Coppers and Brasses: Type Foundry (Oct 27, 2026)
- Ilisarniq (Oct 27, 2026)
- About Coppers and Brasses: FAQ and End User Licence Agreement (Oct 27, 2026)
