Al Jazeera logo

Figure 2.7 - Al Jazeera (2007) Introduction logo, on the right, in motion

Al Jazeera is a news agency with a beautiful Arabic calligraphy logo designed by a Qatari man (name not mentioned). In one animated Al Jazeera news introduction, the alphabets, written in Arabic calligraphy, appear to twist around themselves to reveal a beautiful almost jewellery/metallic like piece that eventually turns into the standard two-dimensional logo, as seen in figure 2.7 (Al Jazeera 2007).

I found this movement interesting because in its three dimensional phase, one sees something abstract and different from every angle. Text is almost always seen in a two dimensional form. This is probably because it is meant to be read which is easily done from one angle/dimension. I wanted to apply this illusion of movement to jewellery, specifically for my Plat Africa 2019 piece. 

Architecture

Figure 1.7 - Freeman, M., (2009) Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

On the topic of architecture, I have chosen to look at the large elements and structure on a whole as one part, and to look at the exterior and interior decorations as a separate part. For the sake of creating a better understanding within this report, part one will be referred to as "architecture" and part two as "Interior/exterior architecture".

Architecture
In this research, Islamic architecture refers to Masjids (place of prayer), tombs, palaces, madrassas (schools) and shrines. Distinctive features in Islamic architecture can be seen in the shapes of and decoration on domes, arches and minarets, which are influenced by the Byzantine empire.

Masjids and madrasas (see figure 1.8) were the foundation of Islamic architecture and were created to represent a place of peace. The structure is built so that people are drawn to the exterior because of beautiful art that decorates it, and the interior surrounds them with harmonious patterns, colours and visually pleasing elements full of geometrical secrets. In the Quran, the term "Masjid" signifies a sanctuary (Papadopoulo, A. 1979).

Something interesting that I have learnt, through my research, is that architecture, and most other forms of art, are a lot like people. Since the beginning of time, people have evolved and changed as they traveled to different parts of the world over thousands of years. With them, they carried the knowledge of their own people, which they merged with the style and resources of the people that they came to and eventually created a whole new design style.

Figure 1.8 - Papadopoulo, A. (1979). Courtyard of the Alhambra, Granada

Interior/ exterior architecture

Regarding Interior and Exterior Architecture, I am looking at arabesque patterns, calligraphy and geometric designs which are mostly two dimensional in nature. These kinds of two-dimensional decorative elements can be found on ceilings, walls (inside and outside), and windows, while on floors, these elements can be found in arabesque and geometrical designs only.  

An aspect that intrigues me is how simple arabesques, the font of Arabic writing, or the materials used can be traced back to a country or a period in Islamic history. For example, there are so many differences between Masjids all over the world yet they all manage to carry a unique "accents", while essentially existing for the same purpose.

Researching this topic has brought me to ponder over the amount of detailing that goes into creating these large structures, the mathematics that needs to be applied while incorporating arabesques and calligraphic art. I feel like a comparison can be made between designing and planning a Masjid and a piece of jewellery, although the scale may be very different.

Types of Islamic art

Figure 4 - Sanders, P., (2012) Moroccan tiles.

After researching numerous types of traditional Islamic art, I chose to focus on a variety of six. These six topics were studied because the qualities they possessed are points of personal interest, but do not fall into a specific category together. Although many of the different types of art that I have chosen do share decorative elements such as Arabic calligraphy, which can be found in Architecture, Islamic tiles (seen in figure 4) and jewellery, they all still carry their own sense of uniqueness.

Here is the list of types of Islamic art I have researched:

• Architecture
• Calligraphy of the Arabic script
• Ceramics
• Embroidery
• Henna
• Jewellery