Member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale)
www.khtt.net
www.khattbooks.com
Instagram:
@khattfoundation, @khatt_Books, @khatt_chronicles, @hudasmitshuijzen
Twitter: @khttnet
Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, holds a PhD from Leiden University (in Middle Eastern Studies, 2017), an MFA from from Yale University School of Art (in Graphic Design, 1990) and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (in Graphic Design, 1987).
She is author of Arabic Typography: a comprehensive sourcebook (Saqi Books, London, 2001) Khatt Books Amsterdam, 2001), Experimental Arabic Type (Saatchi & Saatchi, Dubai, 2002), Typographic Matchmaking (BIS Publishers, Amsterdam 2007), Typographic Matchmaking in the City (Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2011), and Arabic Type Design for Beginners(Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2013), El Hema: Graphic Design for Social Change(Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2016), Kameel Hawa: The Art of Shaping Arabic Letters (Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2019), ARABIC TYPOGRAPHY: A Revised and Concise Sourcebook (Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2021), Imprimerie Catholique 1848–2000. The Catholic Press of Beirut: A Printing & Design Legacy in the Arab East (Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2023), Mouneer Al-Shaarani. Against the Grain: Exploring the Scope of the Arabic Letter (Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2023), Inner Structures — Outer Rhythms. Contemporary Arab & Persian Graphic Design (Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2024), and a number of book chapters and essays on multilingual communication and contemporary design in the Middle East. She contributes articles on design in the Middle East to academic journals and industry magazines like Baseline, Bidoun, Design Issues, and others.
She specializes in bilingual typographic research and design. She has worked as a designer for a number of years, in the US, Europe and the Arab World. She has art directed and collaborated on the design of several contemporary Arabic fonts for magazines like Aleph (London) and several 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 regularly supervises research of PhD candidates and conducts professional design workshops.
She was jury member of the Jameel Prize 3 (2013), and has been a nominator for the Jameel Prize since 2014. She was a member of the advisory committee on art and design subsidies for the Mondriaan Foundation and the Creative Industries Fund, both in the Netherlands.
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 works 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, 3.0).
Books By Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès include:
Inner Structures — Outer Rhythms: Contemporary Arab & Persian Graphic Design
Mouneer Al-Shaarani: Against the Grain: Exploring the Scope of the Arabic Letter
ARABIC TYPOGRAPHY: A Revised and Concise Sourcebook
Kameel Hawa: The Art of Shaping Arabic Letters
El Hema: Graphic design for social change
Arabic Type Design for Beginners: A bilingual and illustrated guidebook to Arabic type design
Typographic Matchmaking in the City: Propositions for a Pluralist Public Space
Interview: Nafas, magazine d'art: universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2008/khatt_foundation
Interview: Al Jazeera English, programme Artsworld: http://www.khtt.net/page/15765/en
Interview: Design Inbada, Afrique du Sud: http://www.khtt.net/page/30839/en
Interview: Gestalt TV: http://www.khtt.net/page/33310/en
