Tag: Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib

Amsterdam was our last stage in the Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib project. Four intense days were the final sprint that eventually resulted in the presentation of the whole project in the FramerFramed space on the 10th of September. It was a time for fine tuning, giving and taking feedback from every member of the teams and also to exchange our ideas about our work, research and design processes. The images below show some instances of the three typefaces in use. Qandus, Tubqal and Elixir have diverse personalities and each one solves the issue of harmonizing the three scripts –Latin, Arabic and Tifinagh— in a distinctive way. I was lucky enough to be part of two teams –Tubqal and Qandus—, so I had the chance to be involved in two projects with different approaches, goals and working procedures, which made the experience a bit busy at times, but definitely much more enriching.

The final typefaces will be delivered soon, so stay tuned for the release of the book and the fonts in 2017. The Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib has been a wonderful opportunity to meet amazing poeple. I want to take the opportunity to express all my gratitude to every member of this fantastic crew, starting from Huda Smitshuijze AbiFares
 (Curator), Brahim Boucheikha (Assistant Curator), Jan de Bruin (Film maker) and Laura Meseguer, Kristyan Sarkis, Andreu Balius, Salah Bellizi, Naïma Ben Ayed and Redouan Chetuan (Designers). You all have made this year one of the best professional and personal experiences of my life. So let me tell you one last thing in different languages and typefaces:

Eskerrik asko bihotz bihotzetik!

 

See also:

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib (Marrakech)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib II (Granada-Córdoba)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib III (Montalba-le-Château)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib IV (Amsterdam)

Montalba-le-Château welcomed us with a warm and sunny weather. The castle looked like the right place to isolate ourselves from any distraction and to focus in our porjects. This has been probably the most intense and productive of our workshops. Four days of hard work resulted in the consolidation of the three projects, which was the main goal of this meeting. There is still a lot of work ahead but the main guidelines of our projects are already set. Qandus, Tubqal and Al-Zahra, the three type families, have completely different approaches and are devised for different purposes. Qandus is a display font based in the work of the Moroccan calligrapher Al-Qandusi. Tubqal is a rational sans for long texts based on the mabsut variant of the Maghribi style of calligraphy. Al-Zahra is the most experimental and will play with the horizontal vs. vertical stress angles that make Latin and Arabic calligraphy so different.

Montalba said goodbye in a smoggy, opaque and mysterious atmosphere. What these three diverse projects will look like in our next workshop in Amsterdam remains also a mystery. We will have to wait to reveal it.

See also:

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib (Marrakech)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib II (Granada-Córdoba)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib III (Montalba-le-Château)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib IV (Amsterdam)

I think it is high time I updated the information about this wonderful and inspiring typographic experience. Since our first workshop in Marrakech last September, we have met two more times in Granada/Córdoba –in December— and recently in Montalba-le-Château, France. Our work in Granada and Cordoba was still rather exploratory. The main guidelines seemed to be defined but there was still the challenge of translating the findings and proposals of each alphabet into the the others while keeping each one’s specificity.

During this second workshop we spent a whole day visiting La Alhambra. With the help of renown professor of Islamic art José Miguel Puerta Vílchez we were absolutely delighted to discover the stunning omnipresence and integration of calligraphy and lettering in the architecture: words were everywhere building texts, textures and walls! Three more remarkable visits completed our field work: the spectacular Mosque of Cordoba, the archaeological site of Madinat al-Zahra and the Cordoba Archeological Museum.

Al-andalus was clearly a must in this project. Its historical cultural mix of Arab Maghribi, Morisco and Spanish cultures inspired and influenced our work in different ways. It was also an opportunity to think about the ideal of cultural coexistence. The palace of Charles V built inside the Alhambra, or the cathedral erected in the middle of the mosque in Cordoba did not seem the best examples of respectful coexistence and harmony. Food for thought for our projects…

The workshop ended with the presentation of the projects in Casa Árabe. My sincere gratitude to its stuff for their kind support. More about our third workshop in the next post (coming soon hopefully).

See also:

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib (Marrakech)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib II (Granada-Córdoba)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib III (Montalba-le-Château)

Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib IV (Amsterdam)