JEDDAH: The Kashidah project offers courses in Arabic calligraphy to help resolve the current disconnect with the Arabic language culture that many of the young generation experience.
Kashidah offers a three-month course to teach Arabic calligraphy to children and adults, as well as a creative calligraphy toolbox to help students learn.
From steps to sharpen the pen to prepare the ink, a bilingual book is attached to the toolbox.
It has been created to identify the importance of each tool used in Arabic calligraphy and to provide information about the culture of Arabic calligraphy.
The concept of “Kashidah’’ is to highlight the importance of Arabic calligraphy and to prevent this art form from disappearing in a technology-driven world.
Khadijah Fadaaq, the Saudi founder of the project and a fresh graduate in visual communications from Dar Al-Hekma University, said: “Recognizing the importance of learning Arabic calligraphy will create an awareness about Arabic calligraphy culture by using local art to embrace one’s culture.’’
“We aim to find a proper way for students to gain the skill of Arabic calligraphy as well as open new doors for different people to discover more about the culture of this art,” she said.
Fadaaq’s calligraphy work was selected for the new Saudi Airlines private aviation logo, “Albayraq.”
Kashidah is a Persian word; in Arabic it means the technique used in calligraphy to extend the line between the letters of Arabic script to equalize and beautify the text. It is a type of justification in some cursive scripts related to Arabic.
“During the designing of the toolbox I was trying to make it functional and comfortable for students to carry with the strap to their classes,” Fadaaq said.
“We want to encourage students to start using Arabic calligraphy in their career and also, to show them some examples of how people excelled at calligraphy and used it with creativity in their fields.”
Kashidah offers Arabic calligraphy courses with volumes for each script, such as “Naskh” and more Arabic calligraphy styles, with everything students need to master the techniques; courses are held at trusted educational spaces.
