Independent Type Foundry & Consultancy

Crafting
Legacies

I don't just design letters —
I engineer how brands speak, and
protect them at law.

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Portrait of Tharique Azeez
Tharique Azeez
Type Designer · Font Engineer · Lettering Artist · Brand Strategist
AppleSystem Font
GoogleFonts
A.R.Rahman
TEDxSpeaker
Type Design Font Engineering Tamil Typography Lettering & Calligraphy Brand Strategy Script Localisation Intellectual Property VaraiTamil Type Design Font Engineering Tamil Typography Lettering & Calligraphy Brand Strategy Script Localisation Intellectual Property VaraiTamil
Philosophy

Letters are how
culture finds its voice

I work at the rare intersection of cultural heritage and technical precision. My typefaces don't merely display text — they carry the weight of a civilisation's visual memory, engineered to perform flawlessly at every scale.

From Apple's system-level integration of Kavivanar to the concert stages of A.R. Rahman, the work stands where culture and commerce demand the very best.

Supported by a foundation in technology and law (B.Sc. in Technology & E-Commerce, LL.B., and an ongoing LL.M. in Commercial Law), I approach type design not just as an artist and engineer, but as an Intellectual Property advocate—building the legal architecture to protect multi-script creative systems.

Commission a Project
Tharique at work in workshop
1B+
Devices running my fonts natively
1.6B+
Google Fonts API views across my typefaces
530+
Students & designers trained in workshops
13+
Years designing & engineering Tamil & Latin type
Type

The craft
in detail

Four disciplines. One coherent vision. Executed with the precision of an engineer and the soul of an artist.

01

Bespoke Brand Typography

Exclusive brand-owned typefaces that embed a company's DNA into every keystroke — IP-protected visual identity at its deepest.

02

Script Localisation

Expanding Latin brand typefaces into fully functional, culturally accurate Tamil and Indic scripts — optical harmony across every letterform.

03

Calligraphy & Logotype

Hand-lettered logotypes, expressive calligraphy, and brand mark refinement — from analogue gesture to digital precision.

04

Cultural Brand Strategy

Brand audits, positioning workshops, and tone-of-voice development ensuring visual identity resonates across diverse cultural markets.

Executive Highlights

Work at
global scale

From operating system integrations to international concert stages — every project is proof that typographic engineering at the highest level changes how the world reads, feels, and remembers a brand.

Kavivanar typeface on Apple device
Apple iOS & macOS

Kavivanar — A system font for a billion devices

Natively integrated into Apple's operating system. Premium, culturally authentic Tamil typography reaching millions. The highest proof of typographic engineering.

A.R. Rahman concert backdrop
A.R. Rahman — Global Tours

Typographic concert backdrops at international scale

Custom typographic visual designs for massive international live music tours — design integrity under the highest-stakes visibility before tens of thousands.

Pavanam and Neythal on Google Fonts
Google Fonts & Canva

Pavanam, Neythal & Kavivanar

Open-source typefaces among the most widely distributed Tamil fonts in the world — used by millions of designers daily.

talk stage
TEDx & International Forums

Thought leadership in Tamil type

Invited TEDx speaker and international typography forum presenter — advancing Tamil typographic discourse at the world's most visible stages.

VaraiTamil workshop calligraphy session
VaraiTamil Initiative

Educating the next generation of Tamil designers

Immersive workshops equipping designers with analogue lettering techniques and a deeper understanding of Tamil letterform architecture — from Singapore to India and beyond.

"

I conceive beauty from the faintest idea, building bridges between media environments and people through the mesmerising computation of bare letters.

— Tharique Azeez

Open-source
typefaces

Free for the world. Built for beauty. Engineered to last.

Kavivanar
Tamil & Latin Kavivanar Apple iOS & macOS
Google Fonts
Pavanam
Tamil Pavanam Google Fonts · Canva
Neythal
Tamil & Latin Neythal Google Fonts · Open Source
Aaram
Tamil & Latin Aaram Free · Open Source
Lunasha
Script Lunasha Handwritten · Retail
Recognition & Discourse

As seen in, spoken at,
written about

Featured in Press

Workshops & Talks

  • TEDx
    TEDxColombo · 2015
  • Talk
  • Workshop
    வரைதமிழ் — Tamil Expressive Lettering Workshop
    Tamil Youth Festival · Singapore · 2022
  • Workshop
    Multilingual Logo Design
    AkuruCon 2021
  • Workshop
    Taste of Tamil Letterforms: Drawing with Confidence
    AkuruCon 2021
  • Talk
    ColomboType #011 · June 2021
  • Workshop
    Tamil Lettering
    LangFest 2021 · Dakshina Chitra Heritage Museum, India
  • Talk
    Introduction to Tamil Type Design
    Tamil Internet Society · 2020
  • Workshop
    Introduction to Font Tools
    AkuruCon 2018
  • Talk
    The Creative Process
    Colombo Design Market / Ladies, Wine & Design · 2018
Technical Arsenal

OpenType Mastery,
Systems Thinking

Programming complex ligatures, contextual alternates, and multi-script shaping — now backed by legal IP expertise.

Glyphs App Python Scripting Procreate Adobe Illustrator Adobe Fresco OpenType Features FontLab Analog Calligraphy RoboFont UFO Format Tamil Unicode GPOS / GSUB IP Strategy Commercial Law Typeface Protection

Ready to make
something lasting?

Whether it's a custom typeface, a Tamil script localisation, a calligraphic logotype, or guidance on protecting your typographic IP — let's build something the world will still remember in fifty years.

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Get in Touch

Have a
project?

Every brief is a new letter to engineer. Reach out and let's discover what we can create together — whether you're a global brand, a boutique agency, or an independent creative.

hi@thariqueazeez.com
Services & Timelines
Send an Enquiry