Where Grape Leaves Grow is a book by Anna Daliza that explores the history of Maronite Catholics in Lebanon over two thousand years. It intertwines Anna's family story and her experience growing up as a second-generation immigrant in the white suburbs of Southwestern Ontario.

The design of the book, by Michelle Kuan and Emi Takahashi, reflects the poetic dialogue through an expressive and evolving textual layout. The book incorporates custom-made glyphs that symbolize the growth cycles of a grapevine. Its materiality and extended two-panel cover are inspired by the traditional wrapping of warak enab, Lebanese stuffed grape leaves. These elements come together to create an intimate and one-of-a-kind artist’s book.

This typography carefully mixes Kalice by Margot Lévêque with Vivaldi by Friedrich Peter. The captions are set in 29LT Baseet, and the font used for the few Arabic words is 29LT Zarid Text, both from 29LT.

The mix of Kalice and Vivaldi is also used for the book launch party.

Nomadic Traces: Journeys of Arabian Scripts explores the role that scripts have played in defining and preserving the cultural identity of past and present civilizations, and on the migrational and transformative nature of writing, and its ability to freely cross borders and cultures. The exhibition focuses on the development of some of the key Abjads (consonantal alphabets) of the Middle East. It poetically links the past with the present, revealing the wealth of the region through its many scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Musnad, Palmyrene, Nabatean, and early Arabic (Jazm).

The exhibition was conceived and curated by Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, and presented and produced by and presented at Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE, in partnership with Khatt Foundation. It also features newly-commissioned works by artists and designers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Featured artists and designers include Nasser Al-Salem, Sarah Al-Agroobi, Nadine Kanso, Ghita Abi-Hanna, Milia Maroun, Khalid Mezaina, Rasha Dakkak, Hamza Omari, and Xeina Al-Malki.
Research team: Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Ranim Al-Halaky, Afra Bin Dhaher, Sheikha Bin Dhaher, Dina Khorchid.

Catalog design as part of the exhibition Nurse, Nurse, the central event of Manofim – Nurse, Nurse was the main event at the Manofim Festival for Contemporary Art. Manofim, which for the past nine years has been held in unique exhibition sites, seeks to turn its attention to the social and political seams that traverse the urban space. In 2019 the exhibition took place in the mythological Bikur Cholim Hospital, at the heart of Jerusalem.

The catalog design was inspired by medical formalities – forms, prescriptions, instructions, etc. The catalog aspires to function as a formal “tour guide” through the exhibition. A sort of comforting contradiction to the personal and emotional artworks.

In addition, I wanted to quote from the historical archive of the Bikur Holim Hospital – the ancient hospital’s logo had a rare combination of biblical Hebrew letters and a blackletter font on the opposite English version.

The cover typography brings together Mugrabi (Hebrew), Gandur Alte (English), and Mirza (Arabic).

The fonts used in the interior are Roboto Mono (English), 29LT Baseet (Arabic), and 80kb (Hebrew).

Sharjah Events:

1971-Design Space and in collaboration with Mobius Design Studio is pleased to announce the opening of Design House: Change, Coordinates + Someone Else. In this exhibition, the designers will be showcasing their research findings of the selected projects, which were presented back in December 2016. The selected projects discuss the concept of change. What is considered change? In its simplest forms, change is a shift, a development or a deterioration, a revision, or a redefinition, a transformation, an adjustment, an evolution.

Change is often instigated by curiosity and imagination; curiosity to find answers to unsolved mysteries and/or an imagination that goes wild, beyond what currently is to what could potentially be. Change starts with an observation, a question; a critical, uncompromising eye. How can we, individuals on different paths, ignite social change? How can we define, or redefine, the coordinates of someone else’s life, perhaps positively, perhaps forever?

Dar Onboz magazine published by Dar Onboz in Beirut.

Community Jameel annual report designed by The Brand Union in Dubai.

The book Architecture of the Arabic Letters in Motion by Hiba Farran was published by Dar Onboz.