Wissam Shawkat For me, Arabic calligraphy represents the foundation and starting point for any design that engages with the Arabic letter, from logos and visual identities to Arabic typography and the adaptation of international wordmarks, and ultimately to any visual work in which Arabic letters form an essential part of the composition.
From an early age, I developed a strong interest in logo design. I have always found the idea of reducing an entire concept into a small symbol, or sometimes just one or two letters, to be one of the most beautiful challenges in design. I am not referring here only to logos created using classical calligraphic styles in their traditional forms, but to what can go beyond them, inventing new letterforms and finding different solutions in their construction, relationships, and composition. This interest has continually pushed me to search, experiment, and try to introduce something different in every logo I create, whether through a contemporary calligraphic approach or a modern typographic treatment.
For me, Arabic calligraphy remains the foundation for all these practices. Understanding the origins of the letters, their rules and proportions, and the diversity of their forms across different traditions of Arabic calligraphy gives the designer enormous space for imagination and possibility. The deeper our understanding of a letter’s construction, its relationship with other letters, and the balance between space, form, and mass, the better we can create designs that feel harmonious and visually balanced, even when we move away from traditional forms toward something entirely contemporary.
This is what I continually try to achieve in my work: for my knowledge of calligraphy not to limit my design, but to serve as a foundation from which I can explore new forms and solutions.
In this exhibition, you will see a selection of logos and designs that I have created over more than two decades. Some were developed entirely from scratch, while others involved creating Arabic counterparts to existing Latin identities or wordmarks. Across these works, you can see the wide diversity of letterforms, the different ways in which letters are constructed, connected, and treated, as well as the various calligraphic and typographic approaches I have explored in order to arrive, each time, at a solution that responds to the character of the name and the identity it represents.