Ama Foundry

We're super excited to announce that our new Arabic type family called Azyaj will be released soon. Azyaj is a geometric low contrast with a human feeling. It spans 9 weights, 32 Arabic scripted languages, and is designed to handle a wide range of optical sizes while maintaining ‘natural’ proportions of Ains, Jeems and Yehs.

In September 2024, our dear friend Mariam Yakan published a book she wrote and illustrated called “Home in the Sea”. In her words, it’s “a story about a little girl who lived on a hill in the middle of the sea. Like many of us, she sometimes found herself searching for more.” Mariam’s writings and the Falak ACE/OTL project had been developing simultaneously since Lara & Mariam graduated from the Graphic Design department at the American University of Beirut. We were super happy Mariam could use the Falak OTL for her project, and so beautifully typeset by Karima Deghayli. Thank you ladies! Book Credits: Translation (from English to Arabic): Jamila Dandan and Ban Kattan Arabic typesetting: Karima Deghayli @karima.deghayli Printing: Dar Al Fajr, Abu Dhabi Publishing: Mimo Quirks LLC @mimoquirks Recommended reading age: 4+ Post photographs by Rinus Bot.

At the end of last year, the @typedirectors revealed Lisa Smith, Aleksandra Samuļenkova @aleksandrasamulenkova , and Mary Kate McDevitt @marykatemcdevitt  as the TDC72 Jury Presidents for Communication Design, Type Design, and Lettering respectively. These industry notables helped the TDC put together three groups of native experts from across the globe to help determine the choices for type and lettering works of the year. Ama Foundry/Lara Captan is honored to be part of the designers that make up the TDC72 Type Design jury this year. Thank you Aleksandra & the TDC! The next deadline for submitting work is soon on January 23rd, you can enter here: <enter.tdc.org>. Looking forward to observing with you dear type design TDC72 jury members: Abraham Abebe, Namrata Goyal, Denis Moyogo Jacquerye, Sol Matas, Teresa Mou, Shoko Mugikura, Eunyou Noh, Krista Radoeva, Aleksandra Samulenkova, Matthijs Sluiter, Kornkanok Tantisuwanna, Irene Vlachou. 
n__goyal @djmoyogo @solmatas @practicatype @arphicfont @justanotherfoundry @metaphor @kristaradoeva @aleksandrasamulenkova @MatthijsSluiter @typespecimint @irenevlachou.type @lara_captan TDC72 Brand Identity: @morcoskey   @typedirectors

We love when designers use our fonts in surprising ways: This is the Kanat Press in use as a 3D exhibition title for the show: “Horizon in Their Hands: Women Artists from the Arab World (’60s–’80s)”. With graphics designed by the HQWS team, the exhibit opened September 18, 2025 @ithra in Dhahran and runs until February 14, 2026. The show was presented in collaboration with @barjeelart Foundation and curated by Rémi Homs. The Kanat Press typeface is delighted to be part of it. Design credits: HQWS team @hqworldwideshows : Nabil Nasr in collaboration with Muna Abdel Hadi (Exhibit Branding), Scott Hart (Creative Director – spatial design and visitor journey). Credit of images used for this post: • Page 1 image taken from the video: معرض "الأفق في أيديهن" | فنانات من العالم العربي (1960s-1980s) </watch?v=V1atGwV_dMc> • Page 2 images (top to bottom) include the works: – Top, Middle, Left: Mona Al Munajjed, Women, batik on silk, 1986, and I couldn’t find credit for the artwork in the Top, Middle, Right. – Middle: Benhila Regraguia La Printanière, oil on canvas, 1989 (Barjeel Art Foundation Collection, Sharjah). – Bottom: Nadia Mohamed, Palms and Fields, tapestry, 2021 (Barjeel Art Foundation Collection, Sharjah). • Page 3 image is part of a flyer on the Ithra Facebook page.

Besides loving to put stuff on social media super frequently, we haven’t had the heart to post anything on this page since the onset of the war on Gaza in October 2023. It didn’t feel right. So we've synthesized our thoughts from these years in the image series, in Arabic. And it’s now time for us to reactivate this page, so see you soon.

From my hidden archive 2: Some printed matter and Riso tests in the Kanat typeface from back in 2017/2018. Kanat is happy when it's layered, big, bigger, enormous, textured, and even 3D. #arabicfonts #arabictypeface #arabictypedesign #الخط_العربي #lara_captan #kanat #amafoundry

From my hidden archive 1: A detail of a 2017 Riso print showcasing that year's version of the Kanat typeface. Typeset using the words of Samir El Sayegh. #arabicfonts #arabictypeface #arabictypedesign #الخط_العربي #lara_captan #kanat #amafoundry

Here we go! Part 2/4 of the story of Falak ACE/OTL is now live (in the Stories section of the foundry site). It describes the beginnings of the design phase, and the many questions and decisions that come with it. Photo by Claudia Willmitzer #arabicfonts #arabictypeface #arabictypedesign #الخط_العربي #lara_captan #falakace #falakotl #amafoundry

Why make an Arabic wood typeface? Is the letterpress an appropriate medium for Arabic script? Thanks to the initiation of @gwamsterdam , @lara_captan made it a fun, personal challenge to design Kanat: a fully detached Arabic typeface to fit moveable type technology. You can read the article in the Stories section of our website. The story of Kanat’s digital twin is coming soon. And stay tuned for many more stories about Arabic letters: their history, their technologies, their inner workings, and much more slowly brewing and coming your way! Photo by claudiawillmitzer #arabicfonts #arabictypeface #arabictypedesign #الخط_العربي #lara_captan #falakace #falakotl #amafoundry

Have you ever wondered how the Arabic type field would be like today if Arabic-scripted people had invented the printing press? The Falak ACE/OTL project is a quest in answering this question. You can read part 1 of 4 of this adventure in the Stories section of our website. Part 2 is in the making. We hope you enjoy it! And stay tuned for many more stories about Arabic letters: their history, their technologies, their inner workings, and much more slowly brewing and coming your way! Photo by claudiawillmitzer #arabicfonts #arabictypeface #arabictypedesign #الخط_العربي #lara_captan #falakace #falakotl #amafoundry

Dear friends, I'm super happy to announce that the foundry website is finally live (the link is in the bio). And I'm really looking forward to sharing more typefaces, more stories and more goodies in the weeks, months and years to come! Warmly, @lara_captan .

Arabic Typeface Family: Falak OTL, 4 weights for now.