Titus Nemeth

Building bridges: the case for a book that straddles two worlds

November 5, Saturday 10:50 – Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Since the beginning of the new millennium, Arabic typography and typeface design have attained a recognisable presence in contemporary design practice. Large international brands and companies develop localised corporate identities for the Arabic script world, design agencies have emerged that cater to this need, and an increasing number of universities are offering dedicated courses throughout the Middle East and North Africa. However, this thriving practice has not yet been met by a matching critical reflection. Conversely, scholarly discourse surrounding the history of the book in the region is largely detached from contemporary typography and design. The book Arabic Typography: history and practice, was conceived to bridge these two worlds. It offers designers a historical perspective on their work, and introduces considerations of materiality and craft to the scholarly discourse of printing history. Addressed to practitioners, students, and scholars alike, it offers a multidisciplinary perspective on a multifaceted field.

Bio

Titus Nemeth is a typographic designer and historian. He has a keen interest and some expertise in Arabic script culture, which is reflected in his practice, as well as his publications. Titus has designed original type, multilingual editions, and a range of Arabic interpretations of well known Latin typefaces. His publications include scholarly articles, papers in edited volumes, contributions to reference works, and the monograph Arabic Type-Making in the Machine Age. He holds a PhD from the University of Reading, UK, and is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie alumnus. Titus has taught at schools in Austria, France, Morocco, Qatar and the UK.

Talks

November 5, 2022

09:00 — 10:00

Morning Coffee

10:00

Welcome Remarks: Meltem Müftüler Baç

The Dean of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

10:10

Welcome Remarks: Nazan Ölçer

Director, Sakıp Sabancı Museum

10:20

Gerry Leonidas

Arabic typography: a paradigm for research-informed practice

10:50

Titus Nemeth

Building bridges: the case for a book that straddles two worlds

11:30 — 12:00

Coffee Break

12:00

Orlin Sabev

The Ottoman transition from scribal to print culture: the layout of the Müteferrika prints

12:30

Emanuela Conidi

An approach to the study of Arabic foundry type

13.00

Onur Yazıcıgil

The Ottoman printers’ 8 pt Naskh typeface and its Turkish type maker Mehmed Emin Efendi

13:30 — 14:30

Lunch Break

14:30

Borna Izadpanah

Naskh types from Europe, Ottoman Empire, and Russia in nineteenth-century Iran and their legacy

15:00

Özlem Özkal

A curious case of Ottoman Typography: detached Arabic Letters

15:30 — 16:00

Coffee Break

16:00

Thomas Milo

Script grammar: a linguistic approach to digitising Islamic script

16:30

Ayşe Aldemir

Members of the Ottoman dynasty who were calligraphers

Workshop

November 6 — 7, 2022

10:00 — 17:00

Borna Izadpanah & Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

Arabic-script type design workshop: considering the past, designing for the present

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