Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares

Huda in ElHema Shirt in front of her own work -
Photo by Marieke Bijster and photomontage by Huda Smitshujzen AbiFares

As a typographer, graphic designer, researcher and writer, I work with whatever means and talent I have to make design a meaningful and positive part of people's lives

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, was born in Beirut. Author of Arabic Typography: a comprehensive sourcebook (Saqi Books, London, 2001), Experimental Arabic Type (Saatchi & Saatchi, Dubai, 2002), Typographic Matchmaking (BIS Publishers, Amsterdam 2007), and a number of articles on multilingual communication and contemporary design in the Middle East. She holds degrees in graphic design from Yale University School of Art and Rhode Island School of Design, and specializes in bilingual typographic research and design. She has worked as a designer for a number of years, in the us, Amsterdam, France and Beirut. She contributes articles on design in the Middle East to academic journals and industry magazines like Baseline, Bidoun, Design Issues, and many others. She has art directed and collaborated on the design of several contemporary Arabic fonts for magazines like Aleph (London) and companies in the Gulf. She has taught typography and graphic design at the American University of Beirut. She was the Chair of the Visual Communication Department for three years at the American University in Dubai and Special projects Director and Associate professor of Graphic Design until June 2008. She is the director and founder of the Khatt Foundation, Center for Arabic Typography. She curates exhibitions, organizes collaborative design research projects between Europe and the Middle East, and is editor of the Khatt Foundation online network of Arab/Middle Eastern designers (www.khtt.net). She is currently pursuing a PhD at Leiden University while working between Europe and the Middle East as a typography and design consultant on projects of cultural relevance. She is the mastermind and curator of the Khatt Foundation's Typographic Matchmaking Projects (versions 1.0 & 2.0).

[[Interview: Nafas, art magazine
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/khatt_foundation]]

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIefPKIq-kc&feature]]