Type Electives Lecture Series:

The Khatt Foundation: A Journey of Discoveries, Challenges and Growth with Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès

In this session, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès will take the audience through her journey as a graphic designer and typographer, namely what led her to establish the Khatt Foundation, an online platform for typographic design research and a network for designers from Southwest Asia and North Africa, and their diaspora. She will discuss the collaborative research work; the writing and publishing; he documenting and archiving of historical design work as well as contemporary works, that she has been undertaking since 2005. The presentation will touch upon the impact of this work on the development of Arabic typography and graphic design, and how it has helped promote inclusive, multilingual, and culturally diverse design practices.

Each talk will be about 30–45 mins long followed by a short Q&A.

The event will be hosted online via Zoom.

We look forward to having you with us!

Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès

Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation and Khatt Books publishers. She holds degrees in design and design history from Leiden University (PhD, 2017), Yale University (MFA, 1990), and Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1987). She was a jury member of the Third Jameel Prize for Islamic Art and Design 2013 (Victoria & Albert Museum, London), and member of the grants selection committee for Mondrian Foundation (2011-2012) & The Netherlands Architecture and Design Fund (2013). She is member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale). Dr Smitshuijzen AbiFarès specializes in multilingual typographic research and design, with focus on Arabic typography and design history. She has taught design and typography courses in the Arab world, The Netherlands, and internationally since 1994. She has published several books and essays on typography and design from the Arab World, and contributed essays to professional and academic publications. She is the author of Arabic Typography: A Comprehensive Sourcebook (2001), Typographic Matchmaking (2007), Typographic Matchmaking in the City (2011), Arabic Type Design for Beginners (2013), Nomadic Traces: Journeys of Arabian Scripts (2019), Kameel Hawa: The Art of Shaping Arabic Letters (2019), The Catholic Press of Beirut: A Printing and Design Legacy in the Arab East (2023), and Mouneer Al-Shaarani. Against the Grain: Exploring the Scope of the Arabic Letter (2023), Revealing Recording Reflecting (forthcoming), and Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib (forthcoming). She works as an independent design curator, researcher, writer, designer, and publisher.

www.khtt.net

www.khattbooks.com

Instagram:

@khattfoundation, @khatt_Books, @khatt_chronicles

Twitter: @khttnet