i have long been been fascinated with the arabic script and how its users of all time have been able to transform this typographical element into a wealthy of graphical communication. further more, i am intrigued by the possibilities of re-inventing and infusing asian language scripts into graphic design. my interest led me to books. and books led me to reza abedini. i have seen some works of him featured in graphic design magazines from time to time but i never really took in the extent of his work and his philosophy until i found this book about him from the ‘vision of design’ series at the recent pageone warehouse sales. it was going at fifty percent off, so i paid a mere $15+ for it. what an awesome deal!
the book speaks directly to all work are passionate about design and who work hard at preserve the integrity of their culture. for this iranian designer, life and design is not separable. he finds at the heart of each of his design, his culture and an opportunity to fight globalisation. abedini reconciles the long estranged relationship of a designer and a painter. to top that off, he works with calligraphy! together with his wide-ranging interests, he is really a modern-day renaissance man. a great designer should be a polymath like him! his work excites the visual and mental faculties at every level; every page truly inspirational.
while reading about how abedini holds fast to what is special about iran in his work, i couldnt help but think of the question that often leaves singaporeans dumbstruck – our very own singaporean culture. singapore is unique in many ways indeed. in fact, we are quite the oddball in our region. but i think a lot of us have not found the language (verbal and visual) to express it. our minds have been conditioned to think of ourselves as four distinct “races”, but we havent really got to speaking about the resultant beauty of this co-mingling. for me, i think that is worth holding on to, instead of always relying on our abang cliches, looking to china, india, indonesia/malaysia, japan for answers. and i am eager to spend more time thinking about this, and see how i am able to express that through my own means.
i am really enjoying his work, and completely inspired!
