Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design from the Arab World

They zoomed in on some of Wissam's unique projects, from his calligraphic script Al-Wissam to his Calligraforms artworks and logotype designs. They explore Wissam's process of developing a new calligraphic script and the difference between that and his process of type design. They discuss the overlaps between calligraphy, type design and graphic design work, as well as how these fields intersect a...

The Khatt Chronicles podcast is back in a third season! Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès moderates a conversation between the hosts of Season 3. The discussion addressed the several topics and themes that are planned for this season. Huda begins by briefly introducing the hosts – Roshanak Keyghobadi, Yasmine Nachabe Taan, Yara Khoury Nammour, and Fawzi Rahal. The season will expand to include Iranian de...

Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Lara Balaa, Lebanese editorial designer and PhD Candidate at Rutgers School of Communication and Information. They discuss Balaa's journey into becoming a graphic designer, and her fascination with connecting graphic design to storytelling, strategy and communication. Balaa shares her experience of teaching design history, questioning how knowledge is consumed and pr...

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Dubai-based Lebanese graphic and type designer @laraassouad. Together they discuss her journey into type design and her other passions and side practices such as book-binding, leather accessories, and pottery. The conversation focuses on Lara's trendsetting work in developing modular Arabic scripts that go beyond type design and practical graphic design applic...

Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Beirut-born Lebanese graphic designer @RanaSalam, "Queen of Arab Pop", founder of Rana Salam Studio in Beirut, Lebanon. Together they unpack her journey as a designer, what inspires her, what she is passionate about, and how she translates that into a unique visual language. They also discuss her Arab Pop (Shaabi) style – defining its characteristics and aesthetics...

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews UAE-based design studio MOBIUS and its founders, graphic designers Hala Al-Ani, Hadeyeh Badri and Riem Hassan. They candidly share their backgrounds and path: a friendship that brought them together and that evolved into a solid professional relationship and design studio. The conversation unpacks the fine points on designing for the cultural sector in the UAE...

Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Egyptian comics artist and designer Mohamed Shennawy – co-founder of TokTok comics magazine and founder of Al-Fann Al-Sabi’ (the 9th Art), a comics publishing and events company. They talk about his personal journey as an artist and his migration – first to Brussels, then to Barbados – and how this is translated in his wordless graphic novels. Shennawy talks about h...

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Lebanese type designer Kristyan Sarkis and founder of TPTQ Arabic font foundry in Amsterdam. Kristyan shares his education and journey into becoming a type designer. He states: "I learned how to connect with my own cultural design heritage at the Type and Media masters program, at the Royal Academy of art in The Hague." Kristyan discusses at length his typefac...

Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Lebanese-British researcher and designer Lina Hakim about her professional journey into research on material culture, technology, crafts and play. Lina discusses with Yasmine modes of teaching and how to empower students to define their practice as designers. They delve into Lina's book "Dia Al-Azzawi. Taking a Stand: Activism Through Graphic Design." Lina discusses...

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Jordanian Eyen graphic design studio’s founders and designers Omar Al-Zo’bi and Yousef Abedrabbo.  In this conversation Omar and Yousef candidly speak about their journey to becoming Eyen Design and their motivations and attitude towards design practice and education, particularly in Jordan. They discuss the importance of being engaged with local culture, list...

Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Lebanese graphic designer and educator Maya Saikali about how she marries her interest in socially engaged practice and commercial design work. Maya explains since she was a design student, first in Beirut (Lebanon) and then in Eindhoven (The Netherlands), she was always interested in raising social awareness through design and believing that “design can be a tool fo...

Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Lebanese illustrator and animator Bahij Jaroudi about his professional journey and motivation. Bahij talks about the importance for him to draw everyday, to enjoy the process and to strive to create beautiful images. He uses his work to express his emotions and to respond to current or personal events, and finds ultimate satisfaction when his work is seen and enjoye...

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Lebanese-French Graphic Designer Naji El Mir about his beginnings in graphic design and animation. The discussion addresses the journey from homeland to becoming a successful independent designer in diaspora. The talk explores ideas on self-teaching, exploration of different media or techniques or aesthetics, following one’s passions, and engagement with one’s...

This episode is the official launch of Season 2 of the Khatt Chronicles podcast. In this episode   Afikra host, Mikey Mhanna, introduces the Khatt Chronicles hosts, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès (Founding director of the Khatt Foundation), Yasmine Nachabe Taan (professor at the Lebanese American University and Director of The Institute of Art in the Arab World), Yara Khoury Nammour )Graphic design Pr...

Huda AbiFarès interviews Hussein Alazaat about his passion since childhood for Arabic letters, Arab comics, and Arab graphic design. Alazaat discusses his influences: his education through his professional experiences in both Doha and Amman, prior to establishing his multi-functional studio space ElHarf House ( elharf.com ) where he hosts calligraphy and design workshops, and where his personal ar...

Huda AbiFarès interviews Farah Fayyad about her passion for and practice as screen printer at her co-founded Nice Nice Prints. She candidly tells her story about coincidentally becoming a graphic designer, staring with randomly studying design at the American University of Beirut (AUB), studying renowned local calligrapher, her professional experience with local design studios and cultural centers...

Huda AbiFarès interviews Turbo Studio founders Mothanna Hussein and Saeed Abu-Jaber about the story behind their the founding of their studio and their cross-disciplinary skills, backgrounds, and how they marry contemporary design with local heritage in their design practice. They discuss the way they create non-elitist design that speaks to everyone, bringing nostalgic well-designed everyday obje...

Huda AbiFarès interviews Magherita Abi Hanna about the relation between her graphic design background and her contemporary jewellery design. Ghita discusses her experimentation with form and material; her accidental mishaps that open up new design solutions and ideas; and finding inspiration in the urban context of her city of residence, Beirut. ***** About Khatt Chronicles ***** Khatt Chronicles...

Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Pascal Zoghbi, from 29LT type foundry, about his love for Arabic letters and typography. Zoghbi discusses the practice and challenges of Arabic type design; and his educational and professional journey. The interview covers issues such as Zoghbi’s research, design process and his way of challenging the conventions of Arabic type design in order to create innovative a...

Ghalia Elsrakbi is a design professional, researcher, and design educator. After obtaining her a Master's degree in Design at the Sandberg Institute, Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she joined the post-academic interdisciplinary program " Design Negation" at Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Her research was dedicated to the investigation of populist politics from the perspective of desig...

Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Nathalie Fallaha about her entrepreneurship and design ventures. The interview explores Fallaha’s agency specialisation in web design and branding. Together they unpack Fallaha’s design process and thinking, and her education and teaching in post civil war Beirut.  ***** About Khatt Chronicles ***** Khatt Chronicles podcast features remarkable designers, illustrators...

Huda AbiFarès interviews Karim Farah about his graphic design and Arabic lettering work. The interview explores the potential of music in Karim’s development of his unique visual language in which he questions the aesthetics of the Kufi style, abstracting it to extract a specific meaning out of compositions, while pushing the legibility of the letters as far they can go before losing recognizabilt...

Khatt interviews Jana Traboulsi about the relation between drawing, illustration and expressive graphic design. The talk explores ideas on engagement with political and cultural issues, and on combining personal explorations with critical thinking. Jana elaborates on her publication design practice, Bidayat magazine and the Waraq collective. ***** About Khatt Chronicles ***** Khatt Chronicles podc...

Khatt interviews Joan Baz, designer, illustrator, and animator about her professional journey and process as an illustrator and animator. Baz discusses her involvement with Waraq, an interdisciplinary collective focused on creating projects that activated public space in experimental ways. She talks about her exploration of mapping techniques to uncover cultural or political issues, and her presen...

Khatt interviews Lina Ghaibeh, illustrator, animator, and comics artist about her practice and the potential of graphic narratives in giving voice to unheard and unexpected narratives from the Arab world. Ghaibeh believes in the power of visual storytelling and of expressing through drawing what cannot be said with words alone. She discusses the importance of supporting, collecting, and preserving...