Alizé

Alizé is Tom Grace’s three-weight font family inspired by the chancery italic of the 16th century and named for the easterly trade winds that blow through from Africa to the Caribbean. It is a high-contrast face created with syncopations in axes and proportions, and with subtle irregularities which look handmade. These qualities form a lively and delicate weave suitable for setting a single word, a special expression, or a short block of prose.

The family does not contain an unslanted roman, but instead promotes the italic as the primary style in keeping with common printing conventions of the 16th and 17th centuries. Historically, the italic lowercase predates inclined capitals by several decades so, as a nod to this typographic evolution, Alizé’s capitals, small capitals, and figures are slightly inclined to match the energy of the lowercase.

The low x-height and long ascenders and descenders — features associated with purposefulness, finesse, and luxury — are reminiscent of the Venetian-style italic, but are further emphasised. Unlike the Venetian italic, however, Alizé has a sharp slope, giving a prominent sweep across the page, similar to its trade winds namesake. The complete Alizé family, along with our entire catalogue, has been optimised for today’s varied screen uses.