Home > Culture and Lifestyle > Master Calligrapher Wissam Shawkat Comes to Keyani Dubai for an Intimate Evening on 11 June

Master Calligrapher Wissam Shawkat Comes to Keyani Dubai for an Intimate Evening on 11 June

One of the most influential names in modern Arabic calligraphy is sitting down for a conversation in Dubai this week. Wissam Shawkat, the Iraqi-born master calligrapher whose work has shaped logos for Tiffany & Co., Chopard, Hermès, and Jo Malone London, is the headline guest at “When Letters Speak”, an intimate evening hosted by Keyani in Al Manara on Thursday, 11 June at 7 PM.

Tickets are AED 100, and bookings go through 058 5870799.

For Dubai residents who follow art, design, or Arabic typography, this is the kind of evening that rarely surfaces on the public calendar. Shawkat usually appears at gallery openings, biennials, and major museum shows. A ticketed talk in a small wellness venue puts him in the room with an audience of maybe a few dozen people, not a few hundred.

Who Is Wissam Shawkat?

Born in Basra, Iraq, in 1974, Shawkat first picked up calligraphy at age ten in a primary-school art class. He went on to study civil engineering at Basra University, but the script stayed with him. He moved to Dubai in 2002 and has been based in the city ever since, working full-time as an artist, designer, and Arabic typographer.

Over more than three decades of practice, he has done two things most calligraphers struggle to do at the same time:

Mastered the strict, rule-bound classical scripts that define the discipline
Broken away from them to develop his own contemporary script, “Al Wissam”

His 2016 solo exhibition Monumental 11/11 at Tashkeel was the public moment where he declared his shift toward abstraction, using letterforms as the foundation for non-traditional compositions. Since then his work has appeared in private and museum collections worldwide, and his Arabic type and logo work has gone onto products and brand identities for some of the most recognisable names in luxury.

In Dubai specifically, his public art sits on the walls of the Majid Al Futtaim Mosque in Abu Hail and on the wall graphics inside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

What “When Letters Speak” Will Cover

The talk is built around Shawkat’s personal journey: from learning traditional scripts as a discipline to finding creative freedom inside an 800-year-old art form. Expect him to discuss:

The stories behind his most recognised pieces
How a civil engineering student from Basra became one of the Middle East’s most quoted calligraphers
The tension between preserving tradition and pushing the form forward
The thinking behind his “Al Wissam” script and how it was first received

The framing is aimed at a broad audience. Designers, typographers, and working artists will find craft insights, while anyone drawn to stories of mastery and reinvention has plenty to take from it as well.

About the Venue

Keyani is a holistic wellness centre on 29b Street in Al Manara, Dubai. The space hosts yoga, meditation, and workshops alongside its therapy practice, and has a pet-friendly café with vegan and gluten-free options. The name “Keyani” comes from Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu, carrying meanings of essence, existence, and being fulfilled.

The setting suits the evening. A wellness centre with earthy interiors is a long way from a white-cube gallery, and Shawkat’s reflections on craft and patience map well onto the kind of space Keyani has built.