In his practice as a publication designer, Hawa blends his inquisitive writer’s talent with his innate love of drawing and creating contemporary and innovative editorial content and visual structure. Hawa’s work includes a number of award-winning typefaces that are inspired by the Arab heritage, but that are decidedly modern and inventive. Hawa’s passion for Arabic typography has ignited a revival of the use of the Arabic language and letterforms in visual communication in the region, a trend that has been flourishing and maturing into a professional and independent specialization. Since 2015, he has taken his more than thirty years of practice in Arabic typography and lettering to the next level: he has started designing and creating self-initiated, site-specific, and culturally relevant typographic sculptures that he refers to as ‘word art’.
About the Artist
Kameel Hawa is a Lebanese graphic designer, writer, and artist. He is the founder of one of the first Arab transnational design studio, Al Mohtaraf. His formal training as a designer originated in working at some of Beirut’s progressive journals of the 1970s, befriending renowned printers, editors, writers, artists, and intellectuals of his generation.
About the Author
Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is a typographer, writer, researcher, graphic designer, lecturer, and design consultant from Beirut, Lebanon. She is the founder and director of the Khatt Foundation. As a designer and researcher, she specializes in Arabic and multilingual typography.
About the Publisher
Khatt Books is a specialized publishing house, established in 2010 as a commercial arm of the Khatt Foundation. Khatt Books focuses on topics such as typography, graphic design, architecture, other applied and visual arts from or dealing with the MENA region.
