Nagsha is a fascinating program of workshops created by Danah Abdal, a graduate of the School of Visual Art MFA program in Design. After learning interesting information from the Sadu House in Kuwait, she decided to develop her knowledge in local crafts and find out how to integrate them within Graphic Design.
Based in New York, the workshop gathers participants and teaches them all about new design skills along with visual references that are related to Middle Eastern crafts. The first trial workshop, which gathered 10 students to experiment with Arabic calligraphy, was a success where all participants were able to write their name in Arabic stylised calligraphy. The workshop made them gain perspective on the Art of Arabic calligraphy for the first time in all its forms and applications. For the final output of the workshop, they aim to create a new concept from the new design and culture exploration. Nagsha believes in taking the workshop to different countries and locations with a potential to resolve conflicts proving that design is an ultimate distraction.
Nagsha is planning to continue holding sessions in New York with plans to expand in the future to other international locations. Some of the subjects include “Reinventing The Palestinian Embroidery Narrative,” “Yemen’s Ancient Mud Sky-Scraper City & Local Material Sourcing,” and “Calligraphic Manuscript of Iran & Typography”.
For more information on the course, or if you're interested in teaching, taking or hosting a workshop, visit www.nagsha.co and read about all the different workshops.
