What if you could design with a script you don’t know how to read? This workshop invites participants to explore Tamil—a 2000-year-old script—through drawing, rhythm, and play.No prior knowledge of Tamil is needed. Through guided exercises, participants will learn to see Tamil letters as shapes and patterns rather than barriers. We will begin with simple strokes and vowels, then move into playful experiments that combine curiosity, storytelling, and visual rhythm. By the end, participants will not only create expressive Tamil letterforms but also gain a method for approaching any unfamiliar script.
The goal is not correctness, but confidence: breaking fear, sparking curiosity, and building empathy for scripts outside our everyday practice. This lab offers a framework for multiscript design exploration that can be applied across languages and contexts.
Tharique Azeez is a designer, educator, and type enthusiast passionate about making typography and lettering accessible across scripts and cultures. With over a decade of experience in design education, he specializes in teaching Tamil typography to beginners, including those who do not speak or read the language.Tharique’s work focuses on building playful, inclusive pedagogies that encourage curiosity, experimentation, and cross-script creativity. He believes that typography is not just about letters, it is a bridge between cultures, stories, and identities. Through workshops and courses, he has guided students from diverse backgrounds to approach unfamiliar scripts with confidence and joy.Beyond education, Tharique creates typographic projects that explore multiscript design, visual storytelling, and the cultural dimensions of writing systems. His hands-on approach empowers learners to embrace experimentation while understanding structure and rhythm in letterforms.
Tharique Azeez