Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Samar Maakaroun

Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Samar Maakaroun

Author: afikra May 16, 2025 Duration: 37:19
Yara Khoury Nammour interviews London-based Lebanese designer Samar Maakaroun. They discuss at length her journey into the field of branding and lettering, her work at Pentagram studio in London and what it means to be the first Lebanese partner in the studio. They cover her independent project on lettering "29 Words for 29 Letters" – playing with meanings, writing systems, and animation, to build a playful and experimental multicultural glossary, and embracing the multiplicity and complexity that comes from thinking in and working with two languages, and in a diasporic context. Samar discusses a special book project for the charity SkatePal and how the timing of the project lent it a different and more poignant political urgency. The discussion ends with a conversation about AI and how it can be supportive of designers' work, but also how it can be misused.

Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design from the Arab World is a series of dialogues that pull back the curtain on creative processes often overlooked in global design narratives. Produced in collaboration with afikra, each episode sits down with a different practitioner-be it a typeface designer reimagining Arabic letterforms, an illustrator weaving social commentary into their work, or a researcher digging into historical patterns and contemporary craft. These aren't formal interviews, but more like candid conversations that delve into the guest's personal journey, the challenges and inspirations specific to their context, and their hopes for the future of visual culture in the region. When you listen to this podcast, you're hearing firsthand accounts of how ideas move from sketchbook to reality, how tradition converses with modern technology, and what it means to build a creative practice rooted in the Arab World. The discussions naturally cover everything from the intricacies of book design and street art to the philosophy behind material choices and color palettes. Khatt Chronicles serves as an oral archive, chronicling the vibrant and evolving scene of Arab visual communication, one story at a time. It’s for anyone curious about the stories behind the objects, images, and letters that shape our visual environment, offering a nuanced perspective directly from the minds that are shaping it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 51

Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design from the Arab World
Podcast Episodes
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Margherita Abi Hanna [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:11
Huda AbiFarès interviews Magherita Abi Hanna about the relation between her graphic design background and her contemporary jewellery design. Ghita discusses her experimentation with form and material; her accidental mish…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Pascal Zoghbi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:06
Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Pascal Zoghbi, from 29LT type foundry, about his love for Arabic letters and typography. Zoghbi discusses the practice and challenges of Arabic type design; and his educational and professi…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Foundland Collective [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:20
Ghalia Elsrakbi is a design professional, researcher, and design educator. After obtaining her a Master's degree in Design at the Sandberg Institute, Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she joined the post-academic in…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Nathalie Fallaha [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:09
Yara Khoury Nammour interviews Nathalie Fallaha about her entrepreneurship and design ventures. The interview explores Fallaha’s agency specialisation in web design and branding. Together they unpack Fallaha’s design pro…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Karim Farah [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:02
Huda AbiFarès interviews Karim Farah about his graphic design and Arabic lettering work. The interview explores the potential of music in Karim’s development of his unique visual language in which he questions the aesthe…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Jana Traboulsi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:57
Khatt interviews Jana Traboulsi about the relation between drawing, illustration and expressive graphic design. The talk explores ideas on engagement with political and cultural issues, and on combining personal explorat…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Joan Baz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:11
Khatt interviews Joan Baz, designer, illustrator, and animator about her professional journey and process as an illustrator and animator. Baz discusses her involvement with Waraq, an interdisciplinary collective focused…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Lina Ghaibeh [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:55
Khatt interviews Lina Ghaibeh, illustrator, animator, and comics artist about her practice and the potential of graphic narratives in giving voice to unheard and unexpected narratives from the Arab world. Ghaibeh believe…
Khatt Chronicles in Conversation With Hatem Imam [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:40
Khatt interviews Hatem Imam from Studio Safar talking about design as a tool for cultural production and effecting change. A talk about alternative publishing, breaking rules, Arab comics, translation, experimental music…
Introducing Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design From the Arab World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:40
Today's pilot episode introduces our audience to the Beirut-based board members at Khatt Foundation, who will be interviewing the designers featured during the city-wide event known as Beirut Design Week. Today's pilot e…