# Pompiere font

> A thin, narrow sans with very tall ascenders and a small x-height, drawn after a hand-made fire station sign.

Pompiere is a narrow, low-contrast display sans by Karolina Lach for Sorkin Type, with very tall ascenders, a small x-height and rounded stroke ends. Pompiere comes in one Regular style with 270 glyphs and a basic Latin character set. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits menus, packaging and headings at medium to large sizes.

## Facts

- Classification: [Display](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/display)
- Designed by: Karolina Lach
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 1 (Regular 400)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 270
- Character sets: latin
- Last updated: 2025-09-05
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Pompiere
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/pompiere
- Tagged for: Headlines, Packaging, Casual, Condensed

## About Pompiere

Pompiere is a condensed display sans drawn with a thin line of even weight. Its proportions are the unusual part: capitals and ascenders stand roughly twice as high as the lowercase bodies, so words look tall and airy, and the strokes finish in soft rounded ends. Letters such as P, R and the question mark have slightly loose, hand-made curves. According to its makers, the design was prompted by a hand-made sign outside the quarters of a New York City firefighters’ squad in the West Village, and the small x-height and light weight make it a face for medium and large sizes. Pompiere has one Regular style, 270 glyphs and a basic Latin subset. Karolina Lach is credited as designer, Sorkin Type Co. as manufacturer, and the font is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 with Pompiere as a reserved font name.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright (c) 2011 by Sorkin Type Co (www.sorkintype.com), with Reserved Font Name "Pompiere".

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Café and restaurant menus**: Tall capitals over a small lowercase give section titles and dish names a sign-painted look in a narrow column.
- **Packaging for food and gifts**: The thin rounded line reads as hand lettering on tags, jars and boxes when set large.
- **Invitations and announcements**: Light weight and long ascenders keep a headline delicate without turning to a script.
- **Shop signs and window lettering**: The design started from a hand-made sign, and its narrow letters fit a long name into a short fascia.

## Things to know

- **Small x-height**: Lowercase letters are short next to the capitals, so Pompiere needs a larger point size than most sans serifs to reach the same legibility.
- **Western European Latin only**: The font has a Latin subset and no Latin Extended subset. Polish, Turkish and other Central European languages are not among those with complete letters, and French lacks only the rare capital Ÿ.
- **One light weight**: There is a single Regular style; bold and italic do not exist.

## FAQs

### Is Pompiere free for commercial use?

Yes. Pompiere is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows use in personal and commercial work, modification and redistribution. The font cannot be sold on its own, and modified versions stay under the same license. Modified versions also may not use the reserved name Pompiere without permission.

### Who designed Pompiere?

Pompiere was designed by Karolina Lach and published by Sorkin Type Co., which holds the copyright named in the license.

### What inspired Pompiere?

According to its makers, Pompiere was inspired by a hand-made sign seen outside a New York City firefighters’ squad house in Manhattan’s West Village.

### How many weights does Pompiere have?

Pompiere has one weight, Regular 400, and no italic. It is not a variable font.

### Which languages does Pompiere support?

Pompiere includes the letters needed for English and Western European languages such as German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and the Nordic languages. French is covered except for the rare capital Ÿ.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/pompiere (trendhub)