Last Monday I was lured to the beauty of the drawn word. The Confucius institute in Zagreb organized a beautiful exhibition combining the art of painting and calligraphy. Most of the paintings were huge! Their level of detail was utterly unbelievable !
Category Archives: Calligraphy
Desiging Broken Shadows
As mentioned earlier, I was happy to be part of the team bringing Broken Shadows to the light (pun intended)
I wanted a touch of geometric symmetry of Square Kufi and to try using it in Lain Alphabet. My target was to present something more sophisticated than a normal font and of course that the design is tailored specifically to the title, while maintaining the appeal to an international audience.
And it all begins with the pen and paper.
And then it turns out into this:
Broken Shadows by Tarek Refaat
I’m glad to post here that my friend Tarek Refaat has finally published his new book. Last Thursday was the unvailing and it was welcomed with great enthousiasm.
I hope you will like the design of the cover title, it is one of my trials in discovering usages of the Kufi script.
Stay tuned for the work progress!
Title: Broken Shadows
Author: Tarek Refaat
Release Date: April 8, 2016
Publisher: Red Sands Publishing
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Suspense, International
Book Description:
Broken hearts and dark shadows, will love ever find its way back to them?
Fifteen years ago, Heidi Aasar fled the country, hoping to make sense of the chaos that
surrounded her. A burned ex-operative, she refuses to continue hiding in the shadows.
She now has the chance to right the wrongs of her dark past. Determined to find a way to
redeem herself, she must first fix the loose threads she left behind so long ago.
A successful business owner, Nadim Mohamed Sharaf has done his best to move on after
his heart was broken fifteen years ago. In his mind, he has everything he could ever want
or need at his fingertips. Until the moment Heidi makes a sudden reappearance in his life.
It’s then everything around him changes.
A chain reaction of events soon turns Nadim and Heidi’s lives upside-down. Forced to
confront the turmoil brewing between them, they must put aside their differences if they
are to survive another day. The choices they’ll have to make will define the outcome of
the lives they lead.
Will they be able to overcome their painful and chaotic past? Or will the pain and
heartache consume them in the long run?
(Purchase links are not yet available.)
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28927401-broken-shadows
EXCERPT:
AFTER A LONG DAY AT WORK, Nadim stood in his office,
observing Cairo from the seventeen stories high window. The streets below were
crowded. He could see the people rushing to get back to their homes, eager for a little
respite from a hard day’s work.
Cabs pulled up to the curb along the two-way street to pick up clients and those eager to
get away from the ensuing chaos. People scurried about like rats trapped inside a maze.
Some greeted others in a timely fashion, while others grew surly and shouted obscenities.
Nadim smirked and shook his head. He was used to this scene spreading out before him.
It wouldn’t be long until he joined the ‘rats’ trapped in their own chaotic mazes. The
thought of making his way home appealed to him.
His mind wandered, trapping him in another maze. A maze that took him back fifteen
years. One that brought back memories he’d spent a lifetime trying to avoid. Memories
he wished he could forget, once and for all.
Nadim thought he’d forgotten all about her, the one woman who’d broken his heart.
She’d meant everything to him. He would have given her the world if she’d asked him to.
During his high school days, he’d been known as a playboy. A sweet-talker who’d gotten
exactly what he’d wanted. Charming and attentive, every girl in school came to him for
advice about guys. Most of them ended up hooking up with him.
He’d experienced the same throughout college and work until he’d met her. Beautiful and
brazen, she’d wrapped him around her finger. She’d drawn him in like a moth to flame,
inciting his baser desires. In the end, she’d played him like a smooth violin, cutting its
strings with a scalpel so that it made no noise, whatsoever.
Nadim growled with annoyance. He never thought he’d ever see her again. After fifteen
years, the bane of his existence had popped up in his life once more. Heidi had recently
dropped by his office for an interview.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tarek Refaat is an Egyptian author born in October 1980. He comes from a family that
has diverse cultural roots, and has spent most of his adulthood between Saudi and Egypt,
until finally settling in Egypt.
Tarek is an avid reader of history, and has been into writing since a very young age. He
loves to describe the thoughts and feelings he’s experienced through words. He has
written poetry and prose, and decided as of 2009 to move forward into stories and novels.
Tarek has previously been published, and has also self-published. He views writing as his
aim to reach as many people through his thoughts, and provoke positive and hopeful
energy through his stories.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Website/Blog: http://forgottenrealms.me
Twitter: https://twitter.com/energizre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tarek-Refaat-142437057778
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4919674.Tarek_Refaat
Email: Tarek.h.refaat@live.com
Calligraphy exhibition in Croatia recap
The Croatian capital witnessed a celebration of the fusion of Arabic calligraphy and music in December 2015 organized by the Egyptian embassy in Zagreb on the occasion of the day of the Arabic language . Egyptian artists participated with their work under the theme of songs by the iconic Um Kalthoum. Here is the recap:
The Art:
The TV coverage:
Articles:
The People:
- Mohamed Abdel Aziz (curator and main mentor of the exhibition) : (Behance)
- Ahmed Abdelhameed (Behance)
- Hamada Al Roba
- Hassanein Mokhtar
- Hatem Arafa (Facebook – Behance)
- Nihal Ramzy (Behance)
- Doha Badr Eldin
- Ahmed Abdel Mohsen
- Ramy Essam
- Hedaya Mostafa
- Basma Kater
- Kareem Marghany (Facebook)
- Somaya Saber
البلاد
| سَأَضْرِبُ في طُولِ الْبِلاَدِ وَعَرْضِهَا | أنالُ مرادي أو أموتُ غريبا |
| فإن تلفت نفسي فلله درُّها | وَإنْ سَلِمَتْ كانَ الرُّجوعُ قَرِيباً |
الإمام الشاقعي
حب من سكن الديار
Calligraphy Supplies in Cairo
أ/ حسام علي السيد
أقلام – أحبار
التليفون: 01001589390
فيسبوك: https://www.facebook.com/hosam.omar.73?fref=ts
أ/ محمد نوح
أقلام – أحبار –
01060102009
خطاب لتجارة الورق
ورق كوشيه
التليفون:
العنوان: الظاهر – أكتوبر – العتبة – الهرم
مكتبة ألوان
أقلام فلوماستر ورصاص مشطوفة – ورق – حبر صيني
فرع الزمالك:
19 ش اسماعيل محمد
تليفون: 27380565
أ/ خضير البورسعيدي
أقلام – كتب خط
تليفون: 01003311744
عنوان: 1 ميدان بيت القاضي بجوار قسم الجمالية- سيدنا الحسين
وصف العنوان: من شارع المعز، لما مجمع قلاوون يبقى على شمالك، تدخل يمين، آخر الشارع حتلاقي ميدان بيت القاضي، عدي الميدان، العمارة على الشمال. اسأل الناس حيدلوك. حترن جرس أو تتصل برقم متعلق على الباب، و حد حينزلك يفتح المحل.
Arabic Graffiti
Photos from “Arabic Graffiti”, Pascal Zoghbi, Don Stone Karl, (Goodreads – Amazon)
Highly recommended!
“The Oriental Pages Collection”, Malik Anas Al-Rajab
“The Oriental Pages Collection”, Malik Anas Al-Rajab
“الوطن ليس المكان أو التراب الذي يولد فيه الإنسان وإنما المكان الذي يستطيع فيه أن يتحرك” – عبد الرحمن منيف
Obhur , Jedda, 2012
على الدنيا بعدك العفا – Abu Saiba, Sar, Bahrain 2008
Hamra, Beyrouth, Lebanon
Karantina, Beyrouth, Lebanon
Lebanon
El Seed – Montreal, Canada, 2008
El Seed – Montreal, Canada, 2008
El Seed 2009
احتاج تاريخي – El Seed
Julien Breton 2009
Julien Breton 2006
Julien Breton 2007
احترام – Julien Breton 2010
Julien Breton
Jacques Bournat
Khuraif, Weimar, Germany 2008
يا غنماتي قولوا وراي – Ahmad Sabbagh , Amman , Jordan 2010
Mohammed Ali, London, 2009
Mohammed Ali, Dubai 2010
Arabic Monograms
من كتاب بدائع الخط العربي للكاتب ناجي زين الدين المصرف – إصدار : وزارة الإعلام – بغداد 1972
(للتحميل)
Def. a monogram: “A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos”
Calligraphy from the Egyptian Geographic Society
Kaleidoscope 