16 November 2011

A logo for Öpus Master Mosaics

This week we asked Michel Ajelat to design the company logo using arabic calligraphy.
The artist started to hand draw the arabic letters separately. After scanning each pieces he assembled them to find the best composition before adding the decoration symbols (vowel diacritics) around it. 

Graphically stunning... enjoy! 



"The little symbols surrounding the arabic characters are vowel diacritics, which are used to mark short vowels, and other special symbols appear only in the Qur'an...


...They are also used, though with less consistency, in other religious texts, in classical poetry, in books for children and foreign learners, and occasionally in complex texts to avoid ambiguity…


...Sometimes the diacritics are used for decorative purposes in book titles, letterheads, nameplates, etc."
(Source omniglot.com)


Michael Ajelat is a calligraphy specialist and Fine Art artist from Madaba:
www.madabaartgallery.com

Arabic script explained:
www.arabiccalligraphy.com/arabic-script/

More information about Arabic script:
calligraphyqalam.com

14 November 2011

Repeat after me…

العربي


While making mosaics at the workshop, my Master & I spend some fun time teaching and learning the basics of arabic language from traditional to slang! This track gives you a hint of the difficulties of arabic sounds for westerners! :)