Beauty will save us: Solare, a variable typeface by Nikolas Type, is simply drop-dead gorgeous

They say good things take time, and in the case of Solare – a versatile variable typeface by international foundry Nikolas Type – the thought rings especially true. Five years in the making and now finally released to the wild, Solare is a study in beauty and functionality. “After Grand Slang, Cosi Times and Cosi Azure, which are all very expressive, powerful and idiosyncratic display typefaces, I wanted to create a font that would own all of this beautiful and romantic energy, but would be more readable and functional, and suit for a wider spectrum of applications,” Founder Nikolas Wrobel tell us. If his past typefaces were a stunning evening dress, he says, then Solare is “a classic ensemble for everyday.”

With chiselled edges and sensuous curves, Solare is available in sixteen signature font styles ranging from fine to black, including matching Italics, and “an alluring, glamorous intense style.” Wrobel collaborated with designer Nathan Riley to also conjure Casa di Solare – an entire evocative world that underscores the elegance and versatility of Solare’s letterforms. A few scrolls on the website will take you to a paragraph of text – as you hover on it, the words shapeshift between the many weights of the typeface, emphasising the visual range of Solare. This is also where you can see the Solare Intense range come into full play (the foundry’s website too has a metre with a toggle that lets you play around with the ‘intensity’ of the forms).

“With Solare Intense, I wanted to transform the original shapes and make them playfully elegant, with a certain rich and opulent nostalgia,” notes Wrobel, adding, “I like to think of it as a Ferrari; it gets louder and wilder when you drive it, but looks elegant from the outside.” As the intensity increases, the lowercases become slightly more dense and compressed, and “then exaggerated serifs kick in, extremely angled and wide,” he adds. For example, on toggling the intensity, the serifs of the ‘R’ become sharper, while the sinuous curve of its tail becomes more angular with a subtle notch.

Named after the cosmic radiance of the sun and inspired by the “glow of the human soul,” the typeface is an ode to all things beautiful. “I wanted to make the world more beautiful, even if just with a typeface,” shares Wrobel. When looking for references, the designer didn’t go sifting through typography books, but instead looked for examples of visual culture that evoked the same mood that he wanted to inject into Solare. Along with Helmut Newton’s photography, Wrobel also cites a Chanel N°5 advertisement as references that set the mood for the project. The process, he says, was akin to that of a “jazz musician making a tune, but in slow motion.” Riffing off of that feeling and energy,  Wrobel crafted and recrafted the forms, until they felt just right. “To reach the final output, I created more than a thousand versions, constantly proofed its usability and corrected and tweaked the forms when needed.”

The many iterations and experiments also led to serendipitous discoveries. When working on Casa di Solare, Riley mistakenly used an old, shelved version of the typeface. When he saw it in action, Wrobel decided to bring it back, and polished it to create Solare Sunset, a style shrouded in a bit of mystery – and the “bonus track” equivalent of an album – exclusively available with the full Solare collection. The many styles, including Sunset, add to the typeface’s incredible potential. “I worked really hard with font engineers and an international team to make Solare absolutely reliable and usable for a wide field of applications, including a Japanese extension,” says Wrobel. “So for me, it really feels almost limitless, and you can place it beautifully in almost any context.”

Purchase Solare family