Creating beautiful motifs out of simple elements

Listening to individual, separate musical notes can be quite a dry experience, but arranging notes in a specific way, with their length and pitch fixed in a perfect blend, can ignite a new magical power that once was not there.

The same is true in the visual arts when it comes to producing something impressive out of the ordinary. I have found its use ever-present in Islamic arts.

You can see in the above illustration that a beautiful motif is created by simply replicating and rotating a particular Arabic letter in different geometrical values. In most cases, mind–boggling patterns and complex geometric structures are very simple at heart. In other words, the way you arrange elements is what makes the difference.

My love affair with Arabic calligraphy

Wide brush Arabic calligraphy by Khawar Bilal

If you have been following my work, you might well know that I have a thing about Arabic calligraphy. I always try to find a place for it in my design projects. That I am not an Arab is as sure as the night follows the day. But a fondness for Arabic calligraphy runs in my blood, and it also encourages me to modernise Latin script, sometimes adding a touch of Arabic to it.