Alessio Leonardi is an Italian type and graphic designer. After moving to Berlin in 1990, he worked at MetaDesign with
Erik Spiekermann for two years and then co-founded the design studio Leonardi.Wollein in Berlin. Since 2005 he has been running the Lion&Bee studio with his wife Imme Leonardi.
From 1992 onwards, many of Alessio’s typefaces were published by FontShop International and Linotype Library. He was co-founder of the font labels Face2Face (with Alexander Branczyk and others) and Fontology (with Fabrizio Schiavi). In 2002 he founded the company
BuyMyFonts, which produces custom typefaces for corporations as well as retail fonts for standard use. He recently developed the typeface Change for the city of Berlin, in collaboration with Fuenfwerken design agency.
Alessio Leonardi writes articles for national and international design magazines and has given lectures at many international conferences and institutions. In 2004 he wrote, drew and published the book
From the Cow to the Typewriter: the (true) History of Writing. In 2006 Mergenthaler Editions brought out his second book,
A Line of Type – 120 Years of Typographic History, co-written with Jan Middendorp.
Imme and Alessio Leonardi have three delightful daughters: Anna Futura, Carlotta Sofia and Emilia Augusta.
