Arabic Calligraphy

Arabic Typography

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 04:00:00 GMT

A series of experimental and abstract Arabic typographic works by students at USEK (Lebanon). I love the simplicity, clean lines and the graphic design approach to the pieces.

The word shown below, وسام, was designed by Wissam Beaino.

Maher A. Housn

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

I came across Maher Housn's website while browsing Arabic Calligraphy logos and I was impressed with the quality of his work. I love the LAHAB (FLAME) BBQ Restaurant branding design he did and how he shows the progression of his work.

The Wall

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Check out The Wall, the sister site of ArabicCalligraphy.com. The Wall is a collection of hand-picked calligraphy artwork selected from all over the web with the goal of providing a rich variety of scripts, colors and styles.

The Wall is also a place to be creative, allowing you to compose and share your own remixes, which are arrangements of items from the site.

Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition at the Center for Arabic Culture in Boston

Tue, 17 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The Center for Arabic Culture is proud to host the works of the accomplished artist and calligrapher, Wafaa Al-Shimrty.

Wafaa is an Iraqi born calligrapher who has over 25 years of experience perfecting the cherished and historically rich art form of Arabic calligraphy. Wafaa has taught calligraphy both locally and abroad, including CAC’s calligraphy class.

Join CAC for an afternoon of beautiful artwork and light refreshments.

Sunday, May 22nd
3pm-5pm
The Gallery at the Center for Arabic Culture
191 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 2139

To RSVP please email: info@cacboston.org

For more information, please visit: CAC

Wissam Shawkat

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

From the artist's website:

Passionate about calligraphy since early age. Originally from Iraq, now lives in Dubai, UAE. A civil engineer by practice. His degree in Civil Engineering, received from Basra University in 1996, complemented his artistic pursuits and offered him the skills necessary to excel at draftsmanship and design. His unique style borrows from the exquisite craftsmanship of traditional practitioners and the vibrancy of contemporary culture.

Nadeem and Kaleem

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Nice name designs by Mokhtar El Baba for his grandchildren, Nadeem and Kaleem. Perfect for printing on T-shirts!

Arabic Calligraphy in Home Decor

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Here's an artist's rendition of Arabic calligraphy in home decor. I love the juxtaposition of traditional script with modern decor.

Update: I found these pictures on this site and they were not attributed to anyone. I asked the author of the site to get me more info, which I will post as soon as I get.

The Art of Arabic Calligraphy

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Taha Al-Hiti, an architect and calligrapher, on the art of Arabic calligraphy:

It is a labor intensive art, the exact opposite of casual writing. It's a long process just to create one leter of calligraphy.

via guardian.co.uk

Calligraffiti

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

eL Seed is a graffiti artist who uses Arabic calligraphy as his main form of expression. He describes his art as:

a mixture of street art and Arabic Calligraphy. It is the product of a double marginality, that of an oriental art seeking a voice in the occidental world, and that of street art struggling to legitimize its presence on the contemporary art scene. This duality enables the reconciling of two supposedly opposing worlds and two supposedly clashing cultures.

Calligraphy Bags by Dareen Hakim

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Dareen Hakim is a Lebanese handbag designer who incorporates Arabic calligraphy into her bags with beautiful messages like "Smile and the world will smile back at you", and "Habibi" (My Love, in Arabic).

Check out this interview with her in the Huffington Post.

UAE Embassy Corporate Type

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Pascal Zoghbi, a talented Arabic type designer and typographer and founder of 29letters, created a beautiful latin type design based on the composition of traditional Arabic Naskh Calligraphy. It will be used for the United Arabic Embassy in Washington:

The font is based on the same concept as of an Arabic font. Each of the 26 Latin letters has Caps, Initial, Medial and Final shape enabling the letters to connect as in the Arabic script. The font is an attached Latin type. The drawing of the letters was all done using the Arabic calligraphic bamboo stick and based on the Naskh Calligraphic Style. The challenge was to keep the Latin letters legible while trying as much as possible to implement the Arabic calligraphic pen strokes and letterform structures.

Anatomic Calligraphy

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Khaleelullah Chemnad describing his style of Anatomic calligraphy:

Anatomic calligraphy is a style in which the portrait of a person is drawn using the person's name in Arabic or the words describing any other specialties of the person. Best examples of this style are the portrait of the founding president of the UAE late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan drawn using the letters of his name in Arabic.

Words by Kinda Hibrawi

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Kinda Hibrawi is a Syrian American artist known for her colorful, modern take on Arabic calligraphy. Her piece entitled Words bears a strong stylistic resemblance to Hurufiyyat.

Check out this interview with her in the Huffington Post.

Arabic Letter Calligram

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

A calligram is a phrase, or word in which the typeface or calligraphy is arranged in a way that creates a visual image. There are several examples of calligrams in Arabic calligraphy.

Here's a slightly different take on calligrams whereby the letters don't make up any words (via http://maeiva.wordpress.com).

Al Jazeera Logo Animation

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I came across this neat animation that depicts the word aljazeera (الجزيرة) in Naskh script morphing into Al Jazeera logo (via http://www.mohamedn.com/).

Nastaliq Script

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Nastaʿlīq (also anglicized as Nastaleeq; نستعلیق nastaʿlīq) is one of the main script styles used in writing the Perso-Arabic script, and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy. It was developed in Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries. Although it is sometimes used to write Arabic-language text (where it is known as Taʿliq or Farsi and is mainly used for titles and headings), it has always been more popular in the Persian, Turkic, and South Asian spheres of influence. Nastaʿlīq has extensively been (and still is) practiced in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan as a form of art. A less elaborate version of Nastaʿlīq serves as the preferred style for writing Persian, Kashmiri, and Urdu, and it is often used alongside Naskh for Pashto. Nastaʿlīq was historically used for writing Ottoman Turkish, where it is known as tâlik (not to be confused with a totally different Persian style, also called taʿliq).

Nastaʿlīq is the core script of the Persian writing tradition, and equally important in the areas under its cultural influence. Notably the languages of Afghanistan (Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, etc.), Pakistan (Punjabi, Urdu, Saraiki, Kashmiri, etc.), India (Urdu, Rekhta), and the Turkic Uyghur language of the Chinese province of Xinjiang, rely on Nastaʿlīq. Under the name Taʿliq, it was also beloved by Ottoman calligraphers who developed the Diwani and Ruqah styles from it. Nastaʿlīq is amongst the most fluid calligraphy styles for the Arabic alphabet. It has short verticals with no serifs, and long horizontal strokes.

Kufic Script

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

The Kufic (كوفي) script, according to Wikipedia:

Kufic is a form of script consisting of straight lines and angles, often with elongated verticals and horizontals. It originally did not have consonant pointing distinguishing, for example, b, t, and th. It is still employed in Islamic countries though it has undergone a number of alterations over the years and also displays regional differences. The difference between the Kufic script used in the Arabian Peninsula and that employed in North African states is very marked.

The name Kufic is derived from the city of Kufa (الكوفة), Iraq. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the Arabic script and was prevalent in manuscripts from the 8th-1th centuries. It is in this script that the first copies of the Qur'an were written. Modern day usage of Kufic script include logos, letterhead and monograms.

It is notable that imitations of the Kufic script were made in European art (in a non-Arabic context) during the Middle-Ages and Renaissance. This became to be known as Pseudo-Kufic, or Kufesque.

A New Beginning

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Happy new year everyone!

A new design for this site has been long overdue, and I'm happy to say that it is finally here. I chose a simple and clean design that complements the artwork on the site. I'm also using a new publishing platform to make it easier to add new content on a regular basis (hopefully) and to better interact with the readers. I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a good thing. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know.

Please enjoy the gallery sections and stay tuned for more posts.

New year resolution item number one: checked.