Claude Garamont (ca. 1505 – 1561), known commonly as
Claude Garamond, was a French
type designer,
publisher and
punch-cutter from
Paris. Considered one of the leading
type designers of all time, he is recognized to this day for the elegance of his typefaces. Several contemporary
typefaces, including those currently known as
Garamond,
Granjon, and
Sabon, reflect his influence. Garamond was the first to specialize in
type design and
punch-cutting as a service to others. As the first type designer and punch-cutter to retail his punches to other printers, Garamond helped to shape the future of commercial printing and to spur the widespread dissemination of new typefaces. Garamond apprenticed with Antoine Augereau and was perhaps also trained by
Simon de Colines. He later worked with
Geoffroy Tory, whose interests in humanist typography and the ancient Greek capital letterforms, or
majuscules, may have informed Garamond's work.