Jih-Hsin, a Metal Type Foundry in Taipei

According to Chang Chie-kuan (張介冠), owner of the foundry, Jih-Hsin Foundry (日星鑄字行) is the only type foundry in Taiwan that remains in operation. They make metal types for printers¹.

The foundry has a collection of three Traditional Chinese fonts: Sung (also known as Ming or Mincho in Japanese), Hei (Gothic, sans-serif) and Kai. Types are made to order and are available in different sizes.

Metal types are still used by a diminishing number of printers for booklets, forms, business cards or embossing book covers or spines (a practice still required by many universities for submitting hard-copy theses).

Mr. Chang hopes to preserve the moulds and the art of letterpress. He has purchased a CNC lathe to computerize the carving of moulds. A community is also dedicated to the preservation and digitizing of the font design. The preservation won't be cheap: Mr. Chang is looking for innovative ways to revive the art. Ideas include museum, high-end printing service (such as hand-printed invitation), packaging of computerized font.