Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design from the Arab World

Khatt interviews Joan Baz, designer, illustrator and animator about her professional journey and process as illustrator and animator. Baz discusses her involvement with Waraq, an interdisciplinary collective focused on creating projects that activated public space in experimental ways. She talks about her exploration of mapping techniques to uncover cultural or political issues, and her presenting this content through unexpected media like children's books, interactive projects, and audiovisual installations.

Khatt interviews Lina Ghaibeh, illustrator, animator and comics artist about her practice and the potential of graphic narratives in giving voice to unheard and unexpected narratives from the Arab world. Ghaibeh believes in the power of visual storytelling and of expressing through drawing what cannot be said with words alone. She discusses the importance of supporting, collecting and preserving the history of Arab comics, and her establishing the Arab Comics Initiative (archive and annual award) at the American University of Beirut.

 Khatt Chronicles podcast features remarkable designers, illustrators and researchers from the Arab World. We host engaging conversations about their practice, vision, and aspirations. 

In line with the rest of the Khatt foundation projects, focuses on new developments with Arab typography and design. By Arab we mean people working with the Arabic language, script and audience, who are not necessarily arabs. These initiatives are dedicated to the younger generation as an alternative medium. It also focuses on the younger generations of designers to fulfill three primary objectives:

1. Promote designers in the Arab World to the region and the rest of the world.
2. Continue the mission of Khatt foundation as a network between designers to support fostering and exploring new ideas.
3. Present these podcasts for inspiration and educational reasons.

The podcast is an ongoing platform covering design initiatives and developments around the world. Our aim is to identify and highlight designers from the Arab World that have made meaningful contributions in their fields or have demonstrated excellence in design. 

Through storytelling, the Khatt Chronicles podcast will get you to know the designers on a personal level, and get to learn about how they think, and what makes them tick. 

Todays pilot episode introduces our audience to the Beirut-based board members at Khatt Foundation, who will be interviewing the designers featured during the city-wide event known as Beirut Design Week.Todays pilot episode introduces our audience to the Beirut-based board members at Khatt Foundation, who will be interviewing the designers featured during the city-wide event known as Beirut Design Week.

Featuring:

* Yara Khoury Nammour – Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut (AUB)
* Yasmine Nachabe Taan – Associate Professor at the Department of Art and Design at the Lebanese American University (LAU)
* Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares – Founding Director at the Khatt Foundation
* Fawzi Rahal, Managing Director at Flat6Labs Beirut