We study type history, develop and maintain open-source typefaces for various scripts for print and display.

Chapakala 19

Revival of 19th-century Odia typeface

Two lines of Odia letterpress text from 1875
Matthew 3:11–12, Oriya New Testament, 1875, page 5. Scan from the Internet Archive.

ଡୁବାଇବେ । ତାହାଙ୍କର ହସ୍ତରେ କୁଲା ଅଛି, ଆଉ ସେ ଆପଣା ଖଳା ଶୁଦ୍ଧ-ଋପେ ଝାଡ଼ି ଗହମ ସବୁ ଏକଠା କରି ଗୋଲାରେ ରଖିବେ, ପୁଣି ସବୁ ତୂଷକୁ ଅନିର୍ବାଣ ଅଗ୍ନିରେ ପୋଡାଇବେ ।

  1. 14 px
  2. 18 px
  3. 24 px
  4. 36 px
  5. 48 px
  6. 72 px
Chapakala 19, preview. You can try your own text once the font is released.

ଡୁବାଇବେ । ତାହାଙ୍କର ହସ୍ତରେ କୁଲା ଅଛି, ଆଉ ସେ ଆପଣା ଖଳା ଶୁଦ୍ଧ-ଋପେ ଝାଡ଼ି ଗହମ ସବୁ ଏକଠା କରି ଗୋଲାରେ ରଖିବେ, ପୁଣି ସବୁ ତୂଷକୁ ଅନିର୍ବାଣ ଅଗ୍ନିରେ ପୋଡାଇବେ ।

Book page

କଟକ

Signboard

ନମସ୍କାର

Phone screen

Chapakala 19 revives a nineteenth‑century workhorse Odia letterpress typeface used in printed books, including work from the Orissa Mission Press in Cuttack (est. 1838). It focuses on the fonts used for body text rather than display styles, and follows the shapes and juktakshara (conjunct)s found in books printed between roughly 1810 and 1875. The font is built as a Unicode‑based OpenType family and is designed for reading, historical reprints and OCR training on scanned Odia books.

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Chapakala 20

Revival of 20th-century Odia typeface

Chapakala20 extends Chapakala to a twentieth‑century workhorse Odia typeface that appeared across schoolbooks, magazines and general publishing till the end of the letterpress era (early 2000s). Together with Chapakala19, it aims to cover the copy fonts used in almost all Odia letterpress‑printed books, so that editors, archivists and developers can work with two centuries of Odia print using a single, open type family. This typeface will also use Unicode encoding and OpenType features as Chapakala19, with glyph shapes and conjuncts redrawn from twentieth‑century specimens.

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