Interview: Eps51 Comments (0)

Ben and Sascha, we are honored to do this interview with you. For those who may not be as familiar with your book as we are,Could you please tell us a little bit about this project? Arabesque is a book about contemporary graphic design from the Arab world and Persia. The book features examples of recent innovative and groundbreaking design work that is inspired by the richness of the Middle East’s visual culture. The main topic – Arabic Typography – leads through the six chapters: Calligraphical, Pictural, Pictural Type, Type Design, Logos, Graphical. In addition to that, Arabesque also shows designs of international artists, whose work is inspired by Arabic visual styles. The book also includes various interviews with designers and a CD-ROM with our TalibType™ fonts.       Describe briefly the process in which Arabesque book came about. It all started out when we transferred our headquarters to Cairo, Egypt for a period of about one year. While working for the Townhouse Gallery we totally fell in love with by Arabic type, calligraphy and modern graphic design, which is why we started the project TalibType™. A first prototype  of a book about contemporary Arabic graphic design was produced. In cooperation with Nicolas Bourquin from Die Gestalten Verlag the project has been expanded to all of the Middle Eastern region, involving more than 100 designers and artists from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.           What made you decide to publish a book about such a topic? Like already said, we immediately fell in love with Arabic type and calligraphy at the moment we first saw it – partly because its forms are just completely different from Latin and also because of its countless variations. There are 1000s of different styles of the Arabic script, from calligraphic shapes to ornamental and flourish elements to straight and linear designs ... Arabic script has been developed, redeveloped, invented and reinvented throughout times and offers various possibilities to experiment with due to its flexibility and adjustability. So this is exactly what makes Arabic and also Persian design so special. This is why we created the book.       What were the most challenging aspects of the book? Finding all the artists to feature.           How long did the book take to be created? How many people worked on it? Well, from the very first second we started working until we had the final result in our hands, it probably took around two years. But you have to understand, that it took a while to find a publisher and to get all the bureaucratic stuff over with [contracts and licenses etc]. So pure working time was about one year. Most of the work was done by the two of us. Nicolas Bourquin helped us finding an interesting structure, Huda Abifares wrote the foreword and Martin Bretschneider was responsible for the technical printing process. And of course there were a few more people proofreading the texts and helping us with legal issues ... but that's about it. All the rest was our work – research, editing, layout and design ... – i'd say the book's kind of our baby.       Why did you choose the name Arabesque for the book? 'Cause it sounds good. Besides that, we thought it might be quite appropriate to give our book a title which is known as a typical Arabic visual artwork worldwide – and in addition to that it includes the word "Arab".           How would you describe design in the Arab world? Young, fresh, innovative, creative, booming, long way to go and lot's of potential! During our time in Cairo we mostly worked for the creative art scene. It's clearly noticeable, that alongside the Arabic contemporary art scene, a young middle eastern graphic and type design scene has just been emerging over the past years. A process like that is quite time consuming and only started out quite slowly. But right now there is a real burst of fresh, young, creative and motivated designers from this region. In Cairo for instance the number of small independent graphic design studios has increased tenfold within the past years. Not to mention all the freelancers. Also Arabic typography has changed a lot and is booming more than ever before. This is mainly due to the technical possibilities that are offered by Unicode and OpenType, but also because of the demand for a wider palette of fonts and modern typefaces. So in other words contemporary Arabic graphic design has accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds.       What are the link points and the differences between graphic design in Egypt and Germany? Egyptian contemporary graphic design is booming and has improved a lot within the past years, but it's still wearing children's shoes" [German saying to describe something quite young]. German Design in comparison wears big old boots with many scratches and traces of experience. Just take the development of printing and typesetting for instance. Modern technologies took a while to catch on in the Arab World. Typesetting and therefore type design in Europe has a far longer history and tradition which is why there are millions of Latin fonts – the number of modern Arabic typeface is rather small in contrast. Don't get us wrong; also the Arab world is looking back to a rich history of visual arts. But we're talking about modern design, and Arab graphics just started to wear modern design shoes a few years ago. It's feet are growing enormously fast though.             Do you think the Arabic typography & design be considered as just a trend? There are always certain trends within typography and design, but typography and design themselves are never just trends. It's quite obvious that Arabic graphic design is booming at the moment. It's also true, that there's been increasing interest in Middle Eastern design lately. But that's not just because it's a trend. A trend usually only lasts for a certain quite short period of time. We cannot see Arabic type "disappear" ever again.       Do you think each country of the Arab world has its own style in graphic design? Iran has a quite exceptional position when it comes Middle Eastern graphic Design. I think most other countries in the Arab World have a quite similar style of graphic (which is definitely not a negative aspect). Modern Iranian design is really unique though. It goes back to the 60s and 70s, which is why there are several generations of established Iranian designers who paved the way for younger generations. Especially poster design has gained a high cultural status and is celebrated in exhibitions all around the globe. So over the past fifty years a certain Persian design style has been developed, very much concentrated on playful experiments with modern calligraphy. Young designers build up on that and push the boundaries further and further.           In your opinion, is there a relationship between the styles of graphic design in the Middle East and its political circumstances? It totally depends what the individual design was made for. Pretty much all of the commercial work we feature in Arabesque is not political and i wouldn't say it's influenced by any political circumstances. But of yourse graphic design is not always commercial. Sometimes it's not really possible to draw a distinct line between design and contemporary art – and art usually deals with the artists' experiences, their environment and surroundings, which obviously also includes politics. But that's just the way it is everywhere – if in America, Europe or the Middle East.       What is your next project? Another book? We've just moved our office to Berlin ... so at the moment we're settling down, enjoying this beautiful city and working on a few different jobs – earning money. There are some things we've got in mind, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We're part of a group show in Dubai though: 10th of June at the brownbook magazine headquarters. So if you're around, stop by and check it out. Another interesting project will be the 'cairoscape' exhibition we're designing the visual identity for. It'll take place in berlin in august. [www.cairoscape.org]       Our last question, how do you like to eat your spaghetti? :) Egyptian Koshary of course.       Thank you so much for your time       Ben Wittner and Sascha Thoma eps51 graphic design studio www.eps51.com www.arabesque-graphics.com www.talib-type.com