Areas of interest
My areas of interest include typeface design, typography, lithography, and history of printed letterforms, particularly in the context of languages that have been represented with the Arabic script. I seek to develop diverse and inclusive theoretical and practical outputs by linking an updated understanding of the past with current practices. Central to my work is decolonising the curriculum and promoting diversity by combining expertise in a wide range of related disciplines that reach beyond European visual cultures and the Latin script.
I aim to make knowledge and resources in our field more widely available. I am interested in interdisciplinary collaborations and projects relating to preserving and documenting endangered and ephemeral archival materials, knowledge exchange activities that draw on approaches and methods of digital humanities, and open access scholarly and cultural initiatives that provide equitable and inclusive access to primary materials and learning resources.
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome opportunities to supervise doctoral research in areas including typeface design, typography, and print history in Asian languages and writing systems, specifically those concerned with addressing the textual cultures in underrepresented communities and language-groups that use the Arabic script. I also welcome historical and theoretical enquiries from students keen to address historical gaps, undertake extensive archival research, and explore new avenues to inform current practices through their research outputs.
Teaching
I teach typeface design, typography, and graphic communication practice across the Department’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, deliver lectures, seminars, and make workshop contributions, and supervise student dissertations and advise on research projects.
Background
I have been active in art, design, and visual communication since 1999. During this period, I have explored painting, sculpture, photography, and graphic design, as well as typeface design and typography, which I currently practice exclusively.
Research and outreach
The topic of my doctoral thesis was the early typographic representation of the Persian language, written with the Arabic script, from the 1590s (onwards) in Europe, and from 1780 in India, 1742 in the Ottoman Empire, and 1818 in Iran. I investigated circumstances that affected the textual identity of the Persian language, including the impact of printing technologies, and the role the Persian language has played in various language communities. I approached the history of Persian printing from a global perspective, which allowed me to explore the history of Persian as well as other languages that have been written in the Arabic script in different parts of the world.
I have presented my doctoral research at international conferences and symposiums in Europe and Asia. I have published my research in English and Persian in specialist academic journals, on widely accessible platforms such as the British Library and BBC websites, and in short essays for Iranian journals and newspapers. I have also been involved in organising and running workshops and exhibitions, including , , , , and .
Addressing non-academic audiences is a priority I have pursued through social media activities, writing newspaper articles, and being (BBC World Service). This has been accompanied by interdisciplinary collaborations, including a video interview on translation and transliteration in the exhibition, ‘Régions d’être’, curated by the Slavs and Tatars art collective. I have also served as a jury member for prestigious typeface design competitions such as Type Directors Club and Granshan.
I am currently working on a book project entitled The early typographic representation of the Persian language. Evolving from my doctoral research, this will be a substantially expanded work, which offers new perspectives on the history of printing and typefounding. It draws on a diverse array of sources, including manuscripts, archival records, publications, and ephemera, aiming to fill historical gaps and foster new academic dialogues, with a particular focus on the Arabic script and Middle Eastern languages. The monograph’s interdisciplinary approach bridges the fields of print history, typography, art history, and Islamic history, employing a wide range of primary and secondary sources in non-European languages such as Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu.
Practice
The critical and interdisciplinary approach that I have employed as a researcher and practitioner has enabled me to use the outcomes of my research to inform my design practice. I have designed several award-winning digital typefaces based on historical research and the close study of stylistic and linguistic requirements of languages written in the Arabic script. Notable work as a typeface designer has included personal and collaborative projects such as the Persian Naskh typeface, (2023), the Urdu Nasta’liq typeface, (Google Fonts, 2022), (Rosetta Type, 2020), (Google Fonts, 2018), (Rosetta Type, 2018), and (Google Fonts, 2016).
Teaching
My teaching in type design, typography, and graphic communication is informed by my previous experiences in teaching, research, and design practice. From 2016, I have been active as a postgraduate teaching assistant and lecturer in typeface design, supporting and covering for Professor Fiona Ross. I enhance my teaching through the use of collections, both those in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication and my personal collection of Arabic-script publications in various languages sourced from many countries. With these materials, I have developed the seminar ‘Introduction to Arabic typography and Arabic type-design’ for postgraduate students in the Department and cohorts taking part in the Type Design intensive (TDi) program. I have also co-led the two-day course, ‘Introduction to Non-Latin Type Design’, with Professor Fiona Ross and Dr Vaibhav Singh at the British Library.
Academic qualifications
PhD, ϲʿ¼ (2021)
‘The early typographic representation of the Persian language’. Funded by an AHRC Design Star studentship
MA in Typeface Design, ϲʿ¼ (2015)
‘The typographic development of the Nasta’liq style’ (dissertation), Lida typeface family (practice)
MA in Graphic Design, London College of Communication (2010)
BA in Graphic Design, Soore University (2006)
Awards and honours
Type Directors Club, Certificate of Typographic Excellence, Judges Choice, and Best of Discipline awards (2024), for Tabriz Jali Persian Naskh typeface
Type Directors Club, Certificate of Typographic Excellence (2023), for Gulzar Urdu Nasta’liq typeface
Type Directors Club, Certificate of Typographic Excellence (2017), for Lalezar multi-script typeface family
Granshan Typeface Design Competition, Second Prize for Arabic Display Typefaces (2017), for Lalezar multi-script typeface family
Pangramme: Learning Type Design, Honourable Mention (2016), for Lida multi-script typeface family
Granshan Typeface Design Competition, Grand Prize and First Prize for Arabic Text Typefaces (2015), for Lida multi-script typeface family
Professional bodies/affiliations
Associate Fellow of Advance HE (AFHEA)
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (FRAS)
Websites/blogs
(2023)
(2023)
(2022)
[Kāghaz-e akhbār: story of the first newspaper in Iran] (2021)
(2019)
(2019)
(2019)
Selected publications
, Arabic typography: history and practice, Salenstein: Niggli Verlag (2022), 75–153
[The enigma of the first Persian book printed in Iran], Jahān-e Ketāb, vol. 26, no. 1–3 (2021), 41–47
[The beginning of Persian printing and typefounding in Europe], Jahān-e Ketāb, vol. 25, no. 9–10 (2021), 40–52
(2020)
‘Early Persian printing and typefounding in Europe’, Journal of the Printing Historical Society, new series, no. 29 (2018), 87–123
Selected presentations
(ATypI Conference, Paris, 2023)
(ISType – Mukaddeme, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, 2022)
(Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing, ϲʿ¼, 2022)
(conversation with the 25TDC Typeface Design Competition jury, 2021)
(ATypI Working Seminar, Amiens, 2020)
(interview in Persian with BBC World Services, 2019)
(ISType, Istanbul, 2019)
(Technologies of print in South & Southeast Asia: the social history of modes of production, Royal Asiatic Society, London, 2019)
(Multiple impressions: the coexistence of scribal practices and printing technologies in texts, SOAS, University of London, 2018)
(ATypI Conference, Antwerp, 2018)
(Arabic and Persian Printing History and Culture, University of Birmingham, 2016)
