About Me

I am a self-professed art lover. I had been looking and appreciating art ever since I can remember. When I was a child I would beg my parents to buy me books, not for me to read, but to see all the colourful illustrations and pictures within. Sometimes the materials I chose are questionable – would a seven-year-old child read a scientific magazine full of  technical matters?  The truth is, the magazine had pictures of an Ancient Egyptian carving of a pharaoh offering wine to Thoth, Deity of Knowledge and one illustration depicting world architectures. I would then drool on the picture every day looking at the details, even if the picture itself is no larger than a hand palm.

I am into many kinds of visual art from many cultures – from the ancient carvings of Egypt, the majestic statues of Ancient Greek and Rome, the glittering mosaics of Byzantine, and the patterns of Islamic tiles.

The latter is what this blog is all about. In the recent years I obsessed on the repeating tessellations of the tiles that adorn Islamic, religious or secular, buildings. From the medieval Andalusian palaces of Alhambra, the multiple mosques of Cairo to the imposing Casbah of Morocco. The decoration does not end there – swirling Arabesque designs embellish the walls of the buildings, side by side with the tilings and tessellations, and carvings or calligraphy.

I myself of all these years tried to learn this fascinating form of art. How does it get so uniform, repeating in a way so simple and yet, so complicated and in turn creates a magnificent form.

The blog is a tribute to it – The appreciation of  these beautiful creation of art. I will be posting observations, the methods of creating and my own projects to share with you.