EDUCATION and APPRENTICESHIP

2006 - 2014 Practice-based PhD Visual Arts. Thesis entitled The Unknown Craftsman and the Invisible Guild: Exploring Spiritual Principles in Islamic Art, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London.

2003 - 2005 MA Visual and Islamic Traditional Arts, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London.

2001-2003 Maze Hill Pottery, Greenwich, London. Workshop assistant in a ceramic studio specialising in functional tableware: throwing, glaze preparation, and soda-glaze firing.

2000-2003 Short-term apprenticeships and assistance in ceramic studios specialising in throwing and traditional ‘anagama’ kiln building and firing - Ridge Pottery, Somerset; Svend Bayer, Devon; Gas Kimishima, Hertfordshire.

1998-2001 BA (Hons) First Class, Visual Arts. Camberwell College of Arts, London.

1997-1998 Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design. Cordwainers’ College, London.

SELECETD TEACHING

2022 November - Jameel House, Cairo, Egypt. Workshop entitled ‘The Circle and Its Parts: Intentional and Intuitive Approaches in the Ceramic Design and Making Processes’.

2022 August - Geometry Summer School 2022, Influence of Euclid’s Elements on Architecture, Arts, Philosophy, and Metaphysics. Assisting in curating content and teaching online workshops.

2018-2022 - Schumacher College, Dartington. Annual Introduction to Sacred Geometry as part of MA programmes in Ecology and Spirituality, Ecological Design Thinking, and Engaged Ecology.

2022 May & June - KAIPOΣ Dartington, Patterns of Symmetry and Proportion. In-person teaching for a charity dedicated to the legacy of Prof. Keith Critchlow.

2020-2022 - Online teaching as part of the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts open programme. Courses ranged from introduction to Islamic art and architectural application of geometry to exploration of historical Islamicate documents on crafts and geometry.

2020 & 2022 September - Geometry Summer Symposium: From Principle to Practice & The Quadrivium. Teaching online sessions on proportion in architecture and diagrammatic thinking in Islamicate manuscript traditions.

2011 - Kingston, Jamaica. Consultant on the regeneration project run by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. Development of local clays, making and firing techniques, and sustainable design practices.

2009-2010 The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London. Geometry and Ceramic Tiles practical workshops.

2006-2007 - Al-Fustat Centre, Cairo, Egypt. Tutor and design consultant: sustainable development of locally available materials and preservation of cultural heritage.

RESEARCH, PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS

2022 June - A Light Footprint in the Cosmos international and interdisciplinary symposium, Vancouver, Canada. Presentation as part of a panel entitled Algorithmic Media Disrupt Figurative Thought Patterns.

2021 November - Presenter at Mosque: Innovation, Form and Function conference in conjunction with Shatr Almasjid; the Art of Orientation exhibition, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

2020 June - Faith in the City We Inhabit, London Festival of Architecture. Presentation of the collaborative architectural consultancy and practice project on the use of geometry in the design of a contemporary scared space.

2020 February - Diagram, Cosmology and Media, presentation of current research as part of the membership of the Substantial Motion Research Network.

2019 August - Presenter at the PFSTA Summer Geometry School The Golden Mean - Geometry as a Design Tradition, Dumfries House, Ayrshire, Scotland.

2018 July - Conference presentation, Traditions of Craftsmanship and Geometry in Historical and Contemporary Artistic Practices. Prometheus Trust Conference on Tradition.

Feb 2017 - Public lecture, The Unknown Craftsman and the Invisible Guild: Exploring the Relationship Between Craftsmanship and Spirituality in Contemporary Studio Practice. The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts.

2017 - Illustrations for the article by E. Kheirandish, ‘An Early Tradition in Practical Geometry: the Telling Lines of Unique Arabian and Persian Sources’ in The Arts of Ornamental Geometry (Leiden/Boston: Brill).

2006-2009 - Extensive architectural research in Uzbekistan, India, Egypt, and Spain, partially funded with travel grants from Barakat Trust and Jameel scholarship.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, COMMISSIONS, and COLLABORATIONS

2023 - Post-Pandemic Touch: Altering Perception. Creative collaboration with a film-maker Azadeh Emadi and a musician Jan Hendrickse, working with a deaf-blind community in Scotland, UK

2022 June - Breathing Patterns, a series of works on paper at the Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada as part of A Light Footprint in the Cosmos symposium.

2020 - Design of a large ceramic mural and consultancy for the interior geometric patterns for the School of Sufi Teaching, London.

2018 August - Devon Open Studios, exhibition of current work and workshop demonstrations.

2015 January - In Search of the Dot that Created the Circle, group exhibition, CB1 Gallery, LA, USA.

2014 - Design and making of a large architectural ceramic mural for a mosque, including the conception and execution of geometric mihrab tiles, with integrated Qur’anic calligraphy, and associated decorative tiling. Delhi, India.

2014 January - Illumination: The Light of Tradition, group exhibition at Linlithgow Burgh Halls, Scotland.

2009 February - Divine Inspiration: Seven Principles of Islamic Architecture, group exhibition, Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia.

Dec 2005 A Building Tradition, touring group exhibition, The National Building Museum, Washington DC, USA. July 2005 MA Degree Show, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London.

Private commissions from individual and commercial clients ranged from small projects such as book illustrations, CD covers, and logos to larger architectural collaborations. Please feel free to get in touch to discuss your project.