The Calligraphers
Most calligraphy sold as décor is unattributed — a phrase, a font, no hand behind it. The pieces on this page are different: each one was written by a named calligrapher, and we say which, in which script, and on what.
Anwar Alhulwani
Alhulwani is a Syrian calligrapher, born in Aleppo in 1966, and a graduate of the graphic design department of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Aleppo. He has taught Arabic calligraphy in schools and institutes in Riyadh and at a fine-arts centre in Oman, has exhibited in Sharjah, Dubai and Baghdad, and won first prize at the Medina international contemporary calligraphy forum in 2013. (Source: a profile by the journalist Omar Shariqi, April 2022.)
Alhulwani works in Thuluth — Jali and Regular, sometimes both in one composition — and his practice is rooted in the Quran and its teachings. We carry 31 of his original works: ink on burnished paper, signed by his hand — original paints. Not editions, not prints.
- Sizes run from 50 × 50 cm to 115 × 80 cm unframed; each product page gives its own measurement
- Ink on natural, plain or manufactured burnished paper; some compositions are illuminated in gold
- Ships unframed as the artist made it. Framing with glass is a flat AED 300, whatever the size, done here in the UAE
- Delivered anywhere in the UAE at AED 50 per order, and worldwide for a flat AED 250, delivered within 8 days — rolled in a rigid tube, unframed, by tracked courier
- Most of his works are in hand in the UAE, and each product page says whether it is; a work that is not in hand takes 3–4 weeks. An original paint is not returnable
Ahmed Alhawary
Alhawary is an Egyptian calligrapher trained at the calligraphy school of Damietta, where he graduated among the top of his year in Egypt; he writes Jali Thuluth, Naskh and Muhaqqaq, and has been placed at the Souk Okaz international competition and the IRCICA competition in Istanbul. We carry 4 of his original works: ink on hand-made, hand-treated natural paper, one of them illuminated in genuine gold leaf — signed by his hand — original paints. Not editions, not prints.
- Sizes are 50 × 70 cm and 90 × 60 cm unframed; each product page gives its own measurement
- Ink on hand-made natural paper, hand-treated; «يا حي يا قيوم» carries a Mamluk-style shamsa in genuine gold leaf
- Ships unframed as the artist made it. Framing with glass is a flat AED 300, whatever the size, done here in the UAE
- Delivered anywhere in the UAE at AED 50 per order, and worldwide for a flat AED 250, delivered within 8 days — rolled in a rigid tube, unframed, by tracked courier
- Not in hand — allow 3–4 weeks. An original paint is not returnable
Rasha Kasim
Kasim works in Kufi — the Fatimid Kufi of Cairo's mosques, with its plaited stems and leaf-like terminals, and the Mushafi Kufi of the earliest Qurans. Her compositions are architectural: a mihrab, a minaret, a knot, a ring of one word repeated. We carry 6 of her original works: ink and colour on paper, signed with her seal — original paints. Not editions, not prints.
- Sizes run from 50 × 70 cm to 70 × 100 cm unframed; each product page gives its own measurement
- Five works in Fatimid Kufi; «يسبحون» is in Mushafi Kufi, on kraft paper
- Ships unframed as the artist made it. Framing with glass is a flat AED 300, whatever the size, done here in the UAE
- Delivered anywhere in the UAE at AED 50 per order, and worldwide for a flat AED 250, delivered within 8 days — rolled in a rigid tube, unframed, by tracked courier
- «الحنان المنان» is in hand in the UAE, in both sizes; the other works are not in hand — allow 3–4 weeks. An original paint is not returnable
Affanah Zohir
Zohir writes in Thuluth. Both pieces we carry are fine-art prints of her work, produced on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper at 325gsm, in four sizes from A3 to A0, with an acrylic pane as standard and glass available instead.
«الحب ربيع دائم» — Love, a perpetual spring — the phrase set as a mirrored composition, so the two halves answer each other.
«َلا أبرَحُ حتى أبلُغ» — I will not give up until I reach — from ayah 60 of Surat Al-Kahf; a line about persistence, and a piece that suits a study or an office.
Original or print — and why it matters
We label these plainly because the difference is the price. An original paint is written by the calligrapher’s hand; a fine-art print is a faithful reproduction, made repeatably on archival paper. Both are worth owning and they are not the same thing, and a shop that blurs the two is hoping you will not ask.
Where software helps, and where it never goes
Every original on this page was written by the named calligrapher's own hand; no model draws or repaints a letter, here or anywhere at MASHQ. Software does two things for us. It shapes real typefaces in Mashq Studio, where the outline you design is the file we make. And it composes the room scenes on the originals' product pages — the photograph of the actual work placed in a rendered room, so you can judge its scale. A question about any work goes straight to us: ask on WhatsApp, and the message arrives with your question already written.
The rest of what we make
Everything else in the shop is our own studio work rather than an attributed artist's: wall art, personalised name pieces, and the handcrafted acrylic range, all made to order in the UAE. If you would rather compose something yourself — your own name, your own phrase, your own script — that is what Mashq Studio is for, and it is free to use.