Beatrice Warde’s essay “The Crystal Goblet” was first delivered as a speech in 1930 and later published in 1932 in The Fleuron, a British journal of typography. It has since become one of the most influential texts in the field of design and typography.

Der Amerikanische Freund

Daylight glanced aimlessly off a small, powerful hand. Its straight lines ignored the elegance of motion before an ancient and manicured marble, preferring not the revelation of wonders but a path of oblivion. Extending from the hand to the stone, a projection of dance, was a slender tool, a sixth digit. At the hand its movement was simple, the trace of mathematical precision. At the hand its movement was governed by cultured and unfathomable laws. How many times had muscles and nerves been driven through this routine?

The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum is a large 1822 painting by English artist John Martin of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It follows the pattern set by his previous successful painting, Belshazzar’s Feast, which was another depiction of a dramatic scene from history delivered from an esoteric point of view. The work appeared to be lost from the Tate Gallery storerooms soon after it was damaged by the 1928 Thames flood. However, it was rediscovered in 1973 and subsequently restored in 2011. Martin was (unusually) commissioned to paint the subject by Richard Greville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who paid 800 guineas. The painting is a monumental canvas 5 feet 3 inches by 8 feet 2 inches which depicts a view from Stabiae across the Bay of Naples.

The work was completed in 1822 and exhibited by Martin at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1822 to great public acclaim but mixed critical reviews (the hall had hosted the London exhibition of Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa in 1820). Martin sold a pamphlet explaining the composition. An article in the Morning Chronicle described Martin’s painting as “the most extraordinary production of the pencil that has ever appeared in this or any other country”. The exhibition received 50,000 visitors from March to July 1822. Martin subsequently painted a smaller version, 33 inches (84 cm) by 48 inches (120 cm).

Chicken Headed Raccoon Dog

Senatus populus romanusque

In Roman architecture, the column was more than a structural necessity—it was a symbol of power, order, and aesthetic mastery. Borrowing from their Greek predecessors, the Romans adopted the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, but added their own innovations, such as the Tuscan and Composite columns. These designs, while rooted in function, became key elements in expressing the grandeur of the Roman Empire. The Doric order, with its sturdy and unadorned simplicity, was favored for projects that required a sense of solidity and gravitas. In contrast, the Corinthian order, crowned with intricate acanthus leaves, embodied elegance and sophistication. The Romans elevated the Corinthian style to prominence, incorporating it into monumental structures like the Pantheon, where columns framed entrances and provided a dramatic interplay between mass and space. Tuscan columns, a uniquely Roman adaptation, simplified the Doric style further, stripping away fluting and creating a robust form that reflected the practical nature of Roman engineering. Meanwhile, the Composite order, a blend of Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus leaves, epitomized Roman inventiveness. It became a symbol of the empire’s cultural synthesis, combining the best elements of earlier styles into a uniquely Roman identity. Columns served not just structural but also symbolic purposes. In temples, they created a sacred boundary, drawing the eye upward and imbuing the space with a sense of divine order. In civic architecture, such as basilicas and triumphal arches, columns communicated power and authority, their scale reflecting the ambitions of the empire. Yet the Romans did not limit their use of columns to traditional forms.

The myth of Romulus and Remus, like the banks of the Tiber River, winds through the heart of Roman identity, its current shaping the foundation of an empire. Born of divine lineage and tragic circumstance, their story is one of fate, conflict, and destiny. Legend tells that their mother, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin and daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, was forced into chastity by her uncle Amulius, who had usurped her father’s throne. Yet, the god Mars defied mortal plans and fathered twin sons by her. When the infants were born, Amulius, fearing the fulfillment of prophecy that they would overthrow him, ordered them cast into the Tiber. The river, swollen and restless, carried them gently to a riverbank where a she-wolf—perhaps the embodiment of nature’s maternal instinct or divine intervention—nursed the starving children beneath the shade of a fig tree. This strange and savage nurturing is central to the myth. It speaks of a connection between the twins and the primal forces of the wild, a bond that would later shape their character. Found by Faustulus, a humble shepherd, and his wife, the boys grew up unaware of their noble origins. They became leaders among the shepherds, defenders of their flock and land. When the truth of their birth was revealed, the twins rose to their destiny, leading a revolt against Amulius and restoring their grandfather Numitor to the throne. But destiny was not yet fulfilled. The twins sought to establish a new city of their own. It was here, on the banks of the Tiber, that their bond frayed. Romulus chose the Palatine Hill, Remus the Aventine. The omen of birds—Romulus saw twelve vultures to Remus’s six—seemed to favor the elder, but the interpretation sowed discord. In the end, Romulus’s vision prevailed, but not without bloodshed. Accounts differ on the circumstances of Remus’s death. Some say it was an act of anger when Remus mocked Romulus’s walls, leaping over them in scorn.

Selected Stylistic Sets

ss01 Top Serifs M N

ANTONYMIA

ss02 Long Tail q

quicksilver

ss03 Diagonal y

yummy yesterday

ss04 Down Uppercase Swashes

LOGARYTHM

ss05 Up Uppercase Swashes

PARADOXAL

ss06 Both Uppercase Swashes

PHILOSOPHY

ss07 Down Uppercase Strokes

UGLY BETTY

ss08 Up Uppercase Strokes

UPSIDE DOWN

ss09 Both Uppercase Strokes

MILLENIUM

ss10 Engrave Uppercase Ligatures

CONNEXION

Chargement...

Variable Fonts

Emperia Variable

Emperia Variable Italic

Learn More

Emperia starts from a simple question. “What would Trajan lowercase look like?” As Latin is a bicameral script that combines different letterforms, contemporary typefaces mainly relies on compromising the monumental structure of uppercase in the design process. However, Emperia takes a counterintuitive approach. It is a historical reinterpretation of the Antique genre. Rather than a revival, it is a calligraphic fiction of history, where the construction of the minuscule is grounded in the principles of Roman capitals. With the brush as its underlying tool, the typeface family strives to establish a closer relationship between uppercase and lowercase alphabets. By reuniting these two models in harmony, it successfully rewrites history from a fresh perspective.

The overall family has a versatile and wide range of purposes. The lighter version is perfect for titling because of its higher contrast, while the Regular and Medium weights strike the perfect balance for paragraph composition. Spacing is carefully adjusted to achieve harmonious effects at reading size. The upright styles boast wide and comfortable proportions, making Emperia highly legible and readable. Particular attention has been given to vertical metrics, with ascenders and descenders long enough to help create more recognisable word silhouettes. The texture of the typeface is delicate yet robust, creating an almost invisible effect in text — embodying the philosophy of Beatrice Warde’s Crystal Goblet, emphasizing the content over the letterforms. In few words, Emperia is timeless and built to last.

Open Type Features

locl

Localized Forms

ccmp

Glyph De/composition Substitution

lnum

Lining Figures

pnum

Proportional Figures

tnum

Tabular Figures

onum

Oldstyle Figures

subs

Subscripts

sups

Superscripts

sinf

Scientific Inferiors

dnom

Denominators

numr

Numerators

ordn

Ordinals

frac

Fractions

case

Case Sensitive Forms

calt

Contextual Alternates

liga

Ligatures

dlig

Discretionary Ligatures

titl

Titling Alternates

aalt

Access All Alternates

ss01

Top Serifs M N

ss02

Long Tail q

ss03

Diagonal y

ss04

Down Uppercase Swashes

ss05

Up Uppercase Swashes

ss06

Both Uppercase Swashes

ss07

Down Uppercase Strokes

ss08

Up Uppercase Strokes

ss09

Both Uppercase Strokes

ss10

Engraved Uppercase Ligatures

ss11

White Circled Figures

ss12

Black Circled Figures

ss13

Keyboard Arrows

ss14

Titling Umlauts

ss15

Slashed Zero

ss16

Tabular Punctuation

ss17

White Heart

ss18

Black Heart

ss19

Small Registered

ss20

Lowercase Math Operators

Credits

Design

Arnaud Chemin

Production

Arnaud Chemin

Kerning

Igino Marini

Quality Assurance

Arnaud Chemin

Mastering

Arnaud Chemin

Support

Latin Extended

Glyphs

1119

Publication

2026

Version

1.0

Genre

Antique

Awards

None

Supported Languages

Abenaki, Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Amis, Anuta, Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Arrernte, Arvanitic (Latin), Asturian, Atayal, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bislama, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Chickasaw, Cimbrian, Cofán, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Delaware, Dholuo, Drehu, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, Folkspraak, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Gooniyandi, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut), Guadeloupean Creole, Gwich’in, Haitian Creole, Hän, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hopi, Hotcąk (Latin), Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Ilocano, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Irish, Istro-Romanian, Italian, Jamaican, Javanese (Latin), Jèrriais, Kala Lagaw Ya, Kapampangan (Latin), Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Karelian (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kiribati, Kirundi, Klingon, Kurdish (Latin), Ladin, Latin, Latino sine Flexione, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Māori, Marquesan, Megleno-Romanian, Meriam Mir, Mirandese, Mohawk, Moldovan, Montagnais, Montenegrin, Murrinh-Patha, Nagamese Creole, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Ngiyambaa, Niuean, Noongar, Norwegian, Novial, Occidental, Occitan, Oshiwambo, Ossetian (Latin), Palauan, Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Q’eqchi’, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, RotokasSami (Inari Sami), Sami (Lule Sami), Sami (Northern Sami), Sami (Southern Sami), Samoan, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Seri, Seychellois Creole, Shawnee, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Slovio (Latin), Somali, Sorbian (Lower Sorbian), Sorbian (Upper Sorbian), Sotho (Northern), Sotho (Southern), Spanish, Sranan, Sundanese (Latin), Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tok Pisin, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Tzotzil, Uzbek (Latin), Vietnamese, Venetian, Vepsian, Volapük, Võro, Wallisian, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Zapotec, Zulu, Zuni