Fonderie Olive

Fonderie Olive

Industry	Type foundry
Founded	1836
Defunct	1978
Headquarters	Marseille, France
Key people	Roger Excoffon

The Fonderie Olive, in English, Olive Foundry, was a small but high-profile type foundry located in Marseille, France. It is best known for the work of the typeface designer Roger Excoffon, hired by the foundry’s last director, Marcel Olive.^[1] In 1978 the foundry was acquired by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company which transferred photocomposition rights for all faces to Haas.

Typefaces

These foundry types were produced by Fonderie Olive:^[2]

• Antique Olive (1962-1966, Roger Excoffon)
• Banco (1951, Roger Excoffon)
• Calypso (1958, Roger Excoffon)
• Chambord (1945-51, Roger Excoffon)
• Choc (1955, Roger Excoffon), also released by Amsterdam Type foundry in 1964.
• Diane (1956, Roger Excoffon)
• Mistral (1953, Roger Excoffon), also released by Amsterdam Type foundry in 1955.
• Vendôme (1954, François Ganeau), also released by Bauer Type foundry in 1962.

References

1. "Eye Magazine | Feature | Mr Mistral". Eye Magazine. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
2. Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 2408-249