Yevgen Anfalov and Oleś Gergun, founders of KTF (Kyiv Type Foundry), give a lecture as part of the Herb Lubalin Lecture Series that will take the form of typographical dérive through the city of Kyiv, layering the city’s state of emergency and the founders' intimate geography of the place they grew up in. The talk will contextualize KTF’s ongoing typographic research as part of the variety of its founders' practices such as hunting for design povera, flaneurism, and cultural studies.

Register for the online talk here.

Kyiv Type Foundry (KTF) offers retail and custom fonts and opens new perspectives on Cyrillic-based heritage. Founded by Yevgeniy Anfalov and Oleś Gergun and based in Kyiv and Hannover. Their catalog reflects a belief in tradition and synthesis. Their activities range from hunting the ghosts from the "behind-the-iron-curtain-past" and current "design povera", collaborations with older masters to bridge the generation gap, preserve and share the knowledge by giving workshops and lectures. They are fascinated by internal values of form and external values of context, both being inseparably one. KTF moves between academia and streets, analog and digital, high- and low-brow, artistically appropriating, reviving, and remixing ideas that go at the pace of our time.

Like its place of origin, KTF was made to be a playground at the intersection of Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Their ongoing research sparks from the central question: how do they enrich each other? “Mobile-first”, they say. KTF says, “Cyrillic first”. KTF isn’t just a shop, but a place for ideas, many of which spring from our passions and mutual interest in cultural studies, art, critical theory, linguistics, etc. They’re looking at the world through the lens of type and vice versa. 

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, KTF has raised funds to help their homeland. During the first months of the war, the company donated its entire turnover to civilians in need and the military. KTF Jermilov was used in the communication campaign "Be Brave Like Ukraine", initiated by the Office of the President of Ukraine and creative agency Banda – to highlight the main feature of Ukrainians and talk about it all around the world. Subsequently, its popularity has grown, it unofficially became the “national font”, being bootlegged and unfortunately abused by Russian propaganda.

Yevgeniy Anfalov is a designer based in Kyiv and Hannover. Born in Kyiv (Ukraine) in 1986, Yevgeniy Anfalov moved to Germany in 2003. He studied Visual Communication at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and he launched his design practice in 2010. From 2015 to 2017, he completed the MA Art Direction at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, with a major in Type Design. His practice as a type designer grew out of his activities in the fields of visual design alongside research in design history and teaching (HAW, Hamburg). His first published font is LL Heymland (Lineto, 2020). Other releases: KTF Jermilov, KTF Rublena, and KTF Compact, LL Atomgrad. Clients include Lineto, Aurèle Sack, Formula Type, Studio ARD, Snøhetta, etc. 

Oleś Gergun is a digital designer and developer based in Kyiv and Leipzig with a background in Cultural Studies. He gained a degree of Master of Arts in Culturology at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Subsequently, he became a designer through an autodidact will, not least because of his interest in creative coding. In his practice, he applies both design and code for commercial and non-commercial clients. Being a critical mind and a dedicated practitioner, he applies his analytical and strategic approach to KTF. His type design practice is a continuation of his Kyiv Type Digest blog, an ongoing research of vernacular typography in Kyiv. His typographic debut is a contribution to our shared project KTF Jermilov.