Khatt Foundation

@khatt_chronicles is back with Season 5️⃣!! Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews American-Lebanese designer Wael Morcos. They start by talking about his educational journey in graphic design from Notre Dame University (NDU) in Lebanon to Rhode Island School fo Design (RISD) in the USA. They discuss the people and projects that have had an influence on his development as a graphic and type designer, leading to his founding of Studio Morcos Key (@morcoskey ) with his partner Jon Key in Brooklyn, New York. The conversation revolves around what it means to design in the diaspora versus when living in the culture for which one is designing, and what the pros and cons are for working bilingually and biculturally. They unpack Morcos' work as a type designer and his various collaborations with well-known Arab and American type designers, and go on to discuss his Arabic lettering workshops and various prestigious branding, exhibition and publication design projects for clients like the 2nd Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (2025) (@islamicartsbiennale ), to his ongoing collaboration with the US-based Arab cultural foundation and magazine Mizna (@mizna_arabart ), to his Arabic logotype for the campaign of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani (@nycmayor @zohrankmamdani ). Among his many hats as a designer, Morcos maintains a commitment to Arab culture placing the Arabic script at the heart of his projects wherever and wherever possible. He also makes time to engage in pro-bono activist projects to support social and humanitarian causes, like fundraising for victims after the Beirut port explosion of 2020 with a design for a wool blanket. They discuss the growing design ecology in the Arab region and how it is an essential currency for the preservation and reinterpretation of cultural knowledge. They conclude with Morcos' plea for the need to encourage and advocate for more critical writing and debates on design amongst practicing designers from the region. Comment with "Khatt link" to receive a link to the full episode!

@yastaan interviews American-Lebanese illustrator and designer @sarahsaroufim , taking us through her educational journey first in graphic design at AUB, and how this led to her interest in illustration; then to her postgraduate studies in product design at Parsons School of Design in New York. Sarah discusses candidly her interests, struggles and doubts. She shares the fact that she has been interested in art and passionate about drawing since high school, but not until the end of her college years did she finally feel better at it and found her own voice in illustration. She discusses her creative process and how she needs the time to experiment and plan extensively before starting her drawings. She also discusses the dot-pattern illustrations and Arabic lettering that she created for a book published by @snoubarbayrout entitled Dammeh [hug], among other meaningful projects she enjoyed working on. She elaborates on her mainly black and white color palette, and her fascination with drawing patterns using her ballpoint pen that she always carried with her. Recently she started integrating grays, and other vivid colors in her design work. Sarah mentions a course she took at AUB with Lebanese graphic artist and illustrator @mazenkerbaj from which course she learned the importance of drawing every day (though she fails to apply this), as well as the importance of drawing every detail from scratch no matter how often it may be repeated in a composition. In her work she takes the hard way in order to feel that the outcome is of any worth. She discusses the economic reasons behind her switching from being a freelance illustrator to working in a design agency on full-time basis. To compensate for her struggle with ideas and the discipline of drawing every day, she designed an app called Drop for the iPad about daily drawing for her capstone project at Parsons. She shares her disillusionment with AI developments and the way the world is becoming less authentic. Sarah Saroufim is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Iranian visual artist @golnazfathi who starts by sharing her educational journey from her initial training as graphic designer and classical calligrapher, to reaching her her final goal of becoming a painter and visual artist. Golnaz explains her love for all kinds of written scripts; her fascination with their shapes, their ways of carrying meaning and emotions. She describes how she managed to merge all her learned creative skills and passions (scripts and painting) into the type of written art she has been creating for decades. She challenged herself to break the rules of calligraphy and write along musical rhythms, like a performer, capturing the essence of writing — writing the "unwritten" that expressed pure emotion. Golnaz talks about pushing boundaries, creating cultural bridges and inviting viewers to respond in individual and imaginative ways to her work. She describes her inspirations acquired through art books, and how certain abstract expressionist artists that have had an impact on her way of creating art. She candidly relays the challenges she faced in Iran in having access to modern and international art, and her joy the first time she encountered those artworks physically in a museum. She discusses how music, poetry, and dance are core elements in her work citing as example an exhibition centered around the poetry of the renown Syrian poet Nizar Kabbani. The conversation concludes with talking about her other passions for cooking, enjoying food, hosting friends, and much more. Golnaz Fathi is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book "Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa" (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

ضمن النسخة الثانية من إقامة دار القلم للخط العربي، تشكّلت لجنة التقييم والاختيار الفني لقيادة عملية اختيار المقيمين وفق معايير فنية دقيقة، تعكس عمق الممارسة وتقاطعات الخط العربي مع الفنون المعاصرة. وقد أشرفت على عملية الاختيار لجان فنية متخصصة، ضمّت لجنة الاختيار نخبة من المبدعين وهم: الفنانة البصرية والقيّم فني : لولوة الحمود الخطاط : حسن رضوان الباحثة والكاتبة والمصممة : هدى أبي فارس وضمت لجنة التقييم الفني: القيّم الفني: عبدالرحمن الشاهد مساعد القيّم الفني: ليال القين تعاونت اللجنتان على اختيار وتقييم المشاركات المقدّمة بعناية، بما يضمن إقامة تُثري البحث والتجريب، وتفتح آفاقًا جديدة للحرف العربي في سياق معاصر. As part of the second edition of the Dar Al-Qalam Arabic Calligraphy Residency, the artistic selection and evaluation committees were formed to curate a residency grounded in depth of practice and the intersection of Arabic calligraphy and contemporary art. Selection Committee: Visual Artist and Curator Lulwah Al-Homoud Calligrapher Hassan Radwan Researcher, Writer, and Designer Huda Abi Fares Artistic Curatorial Committee: Art Curator: Abdelrahman Elshahed Assistant Art Curator: Layal Algain Together, the committees carefully reviewed the applications to shape a residency that supports research, experimentation, and new contemporary horizons for Arabic calligraphy. #artresidency #إقامة_فنية #الخط_العربي #arabiccalligraphy #art

@yastaan interviews Lebanese illustrator @hananekai who shares her journey from studying and working as a graphic designer to the moment she decided to concentrate on illustration work. They discuss her illustration career that began with sketching in the park, to online blogs and social media, eventually leading to award-winning commissioned work. They unpack issues related to her response to upsetting events, through personal political posters, some in collaboration with type designer @kristyansarkis . They also discuss her passion for children's books that she collects, diving into her work for children and young adults books. Hanane speaks about the challenges of illustrating children's books especially those addressing difficult social topics and mental health issues. Through the conversation they talk about the @bolognachildrensbookfair and the impact of a visit to this fair on her work as an illustrator, inspiring one of her most experimental and playful illustrated children's book. Hanane explains her process and the importance of research, as well as letting the content dictate the media and style of image-making. Hanane also talks about her latest project, an Arabic erotic dictionary, where she combines the human hand with Arabic letters, collaborating with dancers to capture the right gestures. She concludes this conversation by talking about her need for her projects to be challenging—projects that give her "something to push against" and make her "brain hurt a little." Hanane is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book "Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa" (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Iranian-American visual artist golnar.adili on her journey from architecture to teaching and practicing visual arts. They discuss her work that transgresses borders and definition and how she uses the Perso-Arabic script and language as material for artistic exploration. Golnar talks about her love for science and art and how architecture brought these two passions together. She also discusses her first research trip to Tehran to investigate (free)inside/(controlled)outside spaces and what these notions represent in that particular cultural context, which was her starting point into becoming an artist. The research is concluded with a book of photographs entitled: "Tehran, A Landscape of Compressed Freedoms." Through the discussion, they unpack the relation between her work, her personal family history and experiences of living in diaspora, and her work as an artist and designer. They further explore these concepts in her other projects delving into her collage techniques and books arts projects. Golnar explains how her heart-language, Persian, plays a central role in her work, taking lyrical Persian poetry and making it contemporary through the design of the letterforms and the use of material. She discusses how gender has informed her work and how it compelled her to express small intimate stories of women (in her family) in her work. In her work she formally manipulates physical and visual material to convey emotions going by the Persian saying: "What comes from the heart, sits on the heart." The conversation is concluded with a brief talk about her teaching at both the @parsonsschoolofdesign (with college students) on one hand and children middle-schoolers on the other, and how her teaching assignments relate to her own work and explorations: straddling two and three dimensions, and exploring materials and techniques of image-making. Golnar Adili is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @khatt_books 2024).

Explore an Artform that has Inspired the World for Centuries. Discover an artform steeped in centuries of creativity and countless 
forms of expression. Islamic Geometry 4-fold, 5-fold, 6-fold or any family of patterns that make you look deeper, you’ll explore the mathematical root of this entire artform. Islamic Biomorphs From Tezhip, Islimi and Khatai, explore the enchanting elegance that has inspired the entire world for over 10 centuries. Islamic Calligraphy Authentic masters and contemporary trailblazers showcasing the traditional majesty of beautifying the word. Applied Islamic Arts From woodwork and stained glass to applications on paper and ceramics, meet practitioners and craftspeople that will spark your imagination. Islamic Art Week is For Everyone Whether you’re new to Islamic art or already a seasoned creator, Islamic Art Week 2025 is your opportunity to expand and transform your creativity. Attend Live for FREE Register at: Islamicartweek.com

In this episode of @khatt_chronicles , @yastaan interviews Beirut-based, French-Lebanese illustrator @ahlan.my.darlings . They discuss Aude's educational and professional journey from starting in architecture into illustration and activism. Aude discusses her interest in narratives that address issues of belonging and the strife of migrants (women in particular). She also discusses her passion for projects that address justice and social issues, and her commissions and collaborations with various artists and organizations. Together they unpack her creative process, her creative commitments, and the challenges of making a living as an illustrator. Aude speaks about her collaboration with the architectural collectives representing Lebanon in the @venice.architecture.biennale , weaving stories of nature and politics. She expresses her concerns about not having enough time to execute her work properly, to reflect and explore at a slower pace. She concludes with stressing on the importance of collaboration and collective support within the creative community.

2026 Type Design Incubator Applications NOW OPEN The Donald Knuth and Charles Bigelow Type Design Incubator (KBI) invites students—especially those from Digitally Disadvantaged Language communities—to explore typography in a supportive online program. KBI is powered by SILICON at Stanford University, in partnership with Words of Type and Letterform Archive. The program is where equity in type design meets the urgent need to preserve and advance digitally disadvantaged and underrepresented languages and scripts. APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, November 14, 2025 COURSE BEGINS: JUNE 2026
 APPLICATION TRACKS: (1) Decolonizing Latin & (2) Non-Latin Scripts ELIGIBILITY: Open to students 18 years and older anywhere in the World — join us in redefining type! APPLY: Learn More + Apply Here Successful Applicants receive 100% Scholarship, covering course tuition + required software. WE ARE SEEKING APPLICANTS WHO ARE: • Curious (or perhaps already passionate!) about type design, but who may lack extensive formal training • From *anywhere* in the world (i.e., this program is NOT limited to Stanford students) • 18 years or older (by June 2026) • We are especially eager to meet students from Digitally Disadvantaged Language communities