Try it

Try it

A sans
with the
warmth of
a serif

Family

▶

Wield

Designer

Matthieu Cannavo

Wield is a glyphic sans-serif drawn by Matthieu Cannavo. The strokes pinch through the middle and flare at the ends, right where a serif would begin. That flare gives a sans the warmth of a serif, carried across nine weights and nine true italics.

Family Size

18 styles: 9 Roman, 9 Italic

Features

Numbered stylistic sets, extensive alternates (schoolbook and classical forms, multiple zero and currency variants, letter alternates), tabular and proportional figures, true italic with its own alternates

Character sets

Latin Extended. ~600 glyphs per weight.

Custom Cuts

Available for custom modification.

Licensing

Desktop/Print, Web, Content, App/Game, Logo/Wordmark, Core Media, All Media

Formats

OTF, WOFF2, Variable (based on license type)

 
Regular
Shuffle
Wield/AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz
1234567890!@#$%
 
Shuffle
Wield/AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz
1234567890!@#$%

Nine weights with matching true italics, drawn for both reading and titling. The stylistic sets move the tone from formal to plain and cover schoolbook forms, classical alternates, and zero and currency variants. Built for editorial, identity, and premium packaging.

▶

Variable Weights

Wield Variable
Axis
0
AaBbCc01234567890!@#$%^&*()
AaBbCc01234567890!@#$%^&*()
Wield Italic Variable
Axis
0
AaBbCc01234567890!@#$%^&*()
AaBbCc01234567890!@#$%^&*()

▶

The Cuts

Wield
Wield Italic
 
Regular
Size
200
Leading
0.90
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Sans with the warmth of a serif.

 
Regular

Sans with the warmth of a serif.

 
Regular
Size
200
Leading
0.90
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Pinched middle, flared ends.

 
Regular

Pinched middle, flared ends.

 
Regular
Size
200
Leading
0.90
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

f47. Gracq’s bright shore, and the deep-cut type glows,* happily! (ss01)

 
Regular

f47. Gracq’s bright shore, and the deep-cut type glows,* happily! (ss01)

▶

Wield

Value

01

Wield keeps the trace of the nib to balance the letters. That is what makes it read warm, where the older lapidary sans go cold.

▶

Wield

Value

02

Wield carries a serif's flared strokes without the serifs, so it sits beside a serif instead of competing with it. Set it as the sans in a serif-led system, or run it on its own where a serif would feel too stiff. Few sans do either cleanly.

▶

Wield

Value

03

The stylistic sets change the register, not just the detail. The angled M, long-tail Q, and historical ampersands push it formal and old. The schoolbook a and g pull it plain and current. Several looks from one face.
 
Regular
Size
200
Leading
0.90
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Carved roots, contemporary (variable) pacing.

 
Regular

Carved roots, contemporary (variable) pacing.

 
Regular
Size
200
Leading
0.90
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Avant-garde gauge: Galerie Q&A, #108, €90%

 
Regular
Size
72
Leading
1.00
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Wield is a glyphic sans-serif drawn by Matthieu Cannavo. The strokes pinch through the middle and flare at the ends, right where a serif would begin. That flare gives a sans the warmth of a serif, carried across nine weights and nine true italics.

 
Regular
Size
28
Leading
1.15
Tracking
0.000em
OT Features
No features available

Wield is a glyphic sans-serif. The category it sits in has never had a settled name. Some call it humanist, which points at the wrong lineage. Some call it glyphic, which is precise but unfamiliar. However you want to classify Wield, it’s a sans with the warmth of a serif. The warmth comes from the drawing. The strokes are flared, heavier through the body and tapering as they turn, and the terminals flare. The capitals started from Roman references, but Matthieu Cannavo moved away from them as the typeface took shape. They ended up closer in width to a contemporary sans than to a carved inscription. What stayed Roman is the modulation and the flare, not the proportions. The family is a system. Nine weights of roman and nine true italics, drawn together and paced on interpolation curves. The italic is its own design rather than a slanted roman, with its own rhythm and its own alternates. A numbered set of stylistic alternates covers schoolbook forms, classical letters, zeros, and currency, organized so a designer can find them. Wield took six years, drawn in Paris and finished between Paris and Minneapolis. Most of that time went into the drawing and into the spacing that turns letters into a working tool. Wield is for designers who want a sans with weight and history behind it. It reads in editorial, works as the voice of an identity, premium packaging, especially, where carved letters have signaled authority for centuries.

▶

Designer

Matthieu Cannavo

 
Regular
Matthieu Cannavo is a type designer with a strong focus on lettering. After designing logos, typefaces and packagings for brands such as Prada, Armani, Valentino, Nina Ricci, Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier or Maison Kitsuné, he currently leads the interface design department in a french tech company, handling everything from type to icons. His career also includes font development for creative directors such as Étienne Bardelli, Françoise Jacquey, Philippe Chanet or Clara Villegas. He also produced typefaces for patrimonial French book publisher Flammarion or renowned Canal + TV shows, among others. He holds a MFA in Type Design from the Estienne School in Paris (ESAIG).

▶

Designer Notes

The starting point for Wield was glyphic letters, which we call lapidar in French. I have always felt glyphic typefaces were an underrepresented category, and I wanted to make one that could feel genuine, classical yet new. Wield owes a lot to Optima. It was both a starting point and something I wanted to move away from. In Optima, every letter is elegant, calm and pure, almost cold. I aimed of a warmer glyphic typeface. The calligraphic touches in Wield are what makes the trick. Still, I wish Wield could be read as a tribute to Herman Zapf. I tried to draw Wield so you can always keep a sense of speed of the tool, looking at the letter. The broad nib leaves traces, and in most glyphic typefaces those traces are erased to balance the forms. In Wield I tend to keep them. The face stays considered and balanced, but the calligraphic clues stay visible, helping set the pace of the letters. Overall, the lowercase came after I had spent enough time with the capitals to know what I needed from it. The italic is a real italic, drawn as its own thing, not a slanted roman. The stylistic alternates accumulated over years and were finally organized into a numbered system at the end of the process. Working with Michael on the spacing turned Wield into a finished typeface. I am a designer who likes drawing letters. Spacing and kerning are the parts I find hardest. Michael did the metric work that lets Wield function as a working tool, not just a beautiful drawing. We went back and forth on email for years. The final typeface is the result of that exchange. If I had to say what Wield is for, it is for designers who want a sans with weight and history where the carved feeling reads as authority. It is also a working text face. It carries something that most sans-serifs do not carry.
The starting point for Wield was glyphic letters, which we call lapidar in French. I have always felt glyphic typefaces were an underrepresented category, and I wanted to make one that could feel genuine, classical yet new. Wield owes a lot to Optima. It was both a starting point and something I wanted to move away from. In Optima, every letter is elegant, calm and pure, almost cold. I aimed of a warmer glyphic typeface. The calligraphic touches in Wield are what makes the trick. Still, I wish Wield could be read as a tribute to Herman Zapf. I tried to draw Wield so you can always keep a sense of speed of the tool, looking at the letter. The broad nib leaves traces, and in most glyphic typefaces those traces are erased to balance the forms. In Wield I tend to keep them. The face stays considered and balanced, but the calligraphic clues stay visible, helping set the pace of the letters. Overall, the lowercase came after I had spent enough time with the capitals to know what I needed from it. The italic is a real italic, drawn as its own thing, not a slanted roman. The stylistic alternates accumulated over years and were finally organized into a numbered system at the end of the process. Working with Michael on the spacing turned Wield into a finished typeface. I am a designer who likes drawing letters. Spacing and kerning are the parts I find hardest. Michael did the metric work that lets Wield function as a working tool, not just a beautiful drawing. We went back and forth on email for years. The final typeface is the result of that exchange. If I had to say what Wield is for, it is for designers who want a sans with weight and history where the carved feeling reads as authority. It is also a working text face. It carries something that most sans-serifs do not carry.

Matthieu Cannavo

 
Regular
I met Matthieu through Harsh Patel, who showed me his work with the enthusiasm that only happens when one designer recognizes another. I knew within a few minutes that Matthieu and I would get along swimmingly. He has the eye, the swagger, and the sense of detail that you cannot teach. I emailed him in early 2020 and we have been in touch ever since. Wield started under a different name and went through a lot of versions before it became what it is now. Matthieu drew it and I mainly helped with spacing and kerning. The collaboration ran on email across six years, with stretches of silence and then bursts of activity. Type design works that way more often than people admit. Drawings sit; sometimes a typeface gets released, sometimes it does not. Wield got released because Matthieu is patient and because we both believe in Wield. What I find rare about Wield is that it does what it says it does. Most sans-serifs that claim to work at both text and display do one well and the other adequately. Wield genuinely holds at both ends. The flared strokes give it warmth in running text, and the flared capitals give it a presence. Most of all, it’s a joy to use.
 
Regular
I met Matthieu through Harsh Patel, who showed me his work with the enthusiasm that only happens when one designer recognizes another. I knew within a few minutes that Matthieu and I would get along swimmingly. He has the eye, the swagger, and the sense of detail that you cannot teach. I emailed him in early 2020 and we have been in touch ever since. Wield started under a different name and went through a lot of versions before it became what it is now. Matthieu drew it and I mainly helped with spacing and kerning. The collaboration ran on email across six years, with stretches of silence and then bursts of activity. Type design works that way more often than people admit. Drawings sit; sometimes a typeface gets released, sometimes it does not. Wield got released because Matthieu is patient and because we both believe in Wield. What I find rare about Wield is that it does what it says it does. Most sans-serifs that claim to work at both text and display do one well and the other adequately. Wield genuinely holds at both ends. The flared strokes give it warmth in running text, and the flared capitals give it a presence. Most of all, it’s a joy to use.

Michael Cina

Family

Wield

Designers

Matthieu Cannavo

Release

2026

Family Size

18 styles: 9 Roman, 9 Italic

Features

Numbered stylistic sets, extensive alternates (schoolbook and classical forms, multiple zero and currency variants, letter alternates), tabular and proportional figures, true italic with its own alternates

Character Set

Latin Extended. ~600 glyphs per weight.

Formats

OTF, WOFF2, Variable (based on license type)

Licensing

Desktop/Print, Web, Content, App/Game, Logo/Wordmark, Core Media, All Media

Supported Languages

Acheron, Achinese, Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Alekano, Algonquin, Amahuaca, Amarakaeri, Amis, Anaang, Andaandi, Anuta, Ao Naga, Aragonese, Arbëreshë Albanian, Arvanitika Albanian, Asháninka, Ashéninka Perené, Asu (Tanzania), Balinese, Banjar, Bari, Basque, Batak Dairi, Batak Karo, Batak Mandailing, Batak Simalungun, Batak Toba, Bemba (Zambia), Bena (Tanzania), Bikol, Bislama, Borana-Arsi-Guji Oromo, Bosnian, Breton, Buginese, Candoshi-Shapra, Caquinte, Caribbean Hindustani, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Catalan, Cebuano, Central Aymara, Central Kurdish, Chachi, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chiga, Chiltepec Chinantec, Chokwe, Chuukese, Cimbrian, Cofán, Congo Swahili, Cook Islands Māori, Cornish, Corsican, Creek, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dehu, Eastern Arrernte, Eastern Oromo, English, Ese Ejja, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Gagauz, Galician, Ganda, Garifuna, Ga’anda, German, Gheg Albanian, Gilbertese, Gooniyandi, Gourmanchéma, Guadeloupean Creole French, Gusii, Haitian, Hani, Hiligaynon, Ho-Chunk, Hopi, Huastec, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ido, Iloko, Inari Sami, Indonesian, Interglossa, Interlingua, Interlingue, Irish, Istro Romanian, Italian, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Jamaican Creole English, Javanese, Jola-Fonyi, K'iche', Kabuverdianu, Kalaallisut, Kalenjin, Kaonde, Karelian, Kashubian, Kekchí, Kenzi/Mattokki, Khasi, Kimbundu, Kinyarwanda, Kituba (DRC), Klingon, Kongo, Konzo, Kuanyama, Kven Finnish, Kölsch, Ladin, Ladino, Latgalian, Ligurian, Lithuanian, Lojban, Lombard, Low German, Lower Sorbian, Luba-Lulua, Lule Sami, Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luxembourgish, Macedo-Romanian, Makhuwa, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Makwe, Malagasy, Malaysian, Maltese, Mandinka, Mankanya, Manx, Maore Comorian, Maori, Mapudungun, Marshallese, Matsés, Mauritian Creole, Meriam Mir, Meru, Minangkabau, Mohawk, Montenegrin, Murrinh-Patha, Mwani, Mískito, Naga Pidgin, Ndonga, Neapolitan, Ngazidja Comorian, Niuean, Nobiin, Nomatsiguenga, North Ndebele, Northern Kurdish, Northern Qiandong Miao, Northern Sami, Northern Uzbek, Northwestern Ojibwa, Norwegian, Novial, Nyanja, Nyankole, Occitan, Ojitlán Chinantec, Orma, Oroqen, Palauan, Paluan, Pampanga, Papantla Totonac, Papiamento, Pedi, Picard, Pichis Ashéninka, Piemontese, Pijin, Pintupi-Luritja, Pipil, Pohnpeian, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Purepecha, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Rotokas, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Samoan, Sango, Sangu (Tanzania), Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Sena, Seri, Seselwa Creole French, Shambala, Shawnee, Shipibo-Conibo, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Soga, Somali, Soninke, South Ndebele, Southern Aymara, Southern Qiandong Miao, Southern Sami, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Sranan Tongo, Standard Estonian, Standard Latvian, Standard Malay, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Swiss German, Tagalog, Tahitian, Taita, Tedim Chin, Tetum, Tetun Dili, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tokelau, Toki Pona, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Tonga (Zambia), Tosk Albanian, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Uab Meto, Ume Sami, Upper Guinea Crioulo, Upper Sorbian, Venetian, Veps, Volapük, Võro, Walloon, Wangaaybuwan-Ngiyambaa, Waray (Philippines), Warlpiri, Wayuu, Welsh, West Central Oromo, Western Abnaki, Western Frisian, Wik-Mungkan, Wiradjuri, Wolof, Xhosa, Yanesha', Yao, Yapese, Yindjibarndi, Yucateco, Zapotec, Zulu, Záparo

Typefaces

Partner with us

The Studio

Get in touch

Wield

Sagan 2

Contro

Cina Sans

K73r

Cina GEO

Chrysalis

Yamantaka

TWEN

Plakate

Stadt

Ghostly Gothic

Query Pro

Hardcore

OCR-010204

Skol

View All

￫

Typefaces

￫

Partner with us

￫

The Studio

￫

Get in touch

￫