The Foundry was started in 1990 by Freda Sack and David Quay. Clients for the Foundry’s custom type include NatWest Bank, Bg plc (formerly British Gas), Yellow Pages, Railtrack (for signage) and the Lisbon metro system (also signage).

The typographic design work of artists and designers of the European avant-garde is presented in the Architype series, the latest of these, Architype 3, being the work of Wim Crouwel.