Faouzia Hilmy,
Calligrapher
Faouzia Hilmy lives in Paris and Dubai.
She exhibits her calligraphies and collaborates with luxury brands.
Faouzia practices Arabic and European calligraphy.
For her, Calligraphy is a bridge between different cultures, a way to express a message of peace and brotherhood.
Faouzia Hilmy, Calligrapher
Faouzia Hilmy lives in Paris and Dubai.
She exhibits her calligraphies and collaborates with luxury brands.
Faouzia practices Arabic and European calligraphy.
For her, Calligraphy is a bridge between different cultures,
a way to express a message of brotherhood.
French-Moroccan artist, born in the south of France, in Toulouse
After I got a masters in marketing I couldn’t find my direction in life and I spent many years searching for it. When I was 30, I went to the USA, because i wanted to discover America…
One day, while I was sitting on a bench opposite San Francisco Bay, I felt moved to pray: ‘Please help me find my way’. I prayed so hard that my prayer was answered. When I went back to France a miracle happened.
I was in a cafe when I saw an ad for Arabic calligraphy courses by a Syrian calligrapher. The next day I took my first lesson. It turned out to be a revelation for me. I was fascinated by the letters, with their complex yet harmonious forms . They reminded me of the Arabic lessons I had taken as a child and as a teenager.
From then on, the passion for this ancestral art will never leave me
I decided to drop everything and devotes all of my time and energy to learning arabic calligraphy.
It took me several years to learn it and it was very demanding, but I stuck it out and started a blog on the Internet while creating my first calligraphy artwork. The blog was successful; individuals and well-known brands started contacting me to create artwork and advertisements.
I began exhibiting in Toulouse and Paris before going to other countries : Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco, Dubai…
Today I share my life between Paris and Dubai and I collaborate with luxury brands like Hermes and Armani for projects in the Middle-East.
My calligraphies are availables at Louvre Abu Dhabi Boutique.
What inspire me
I have always been fascinated by the beauty of Arabic letters.
When I started to learn to read and write Arabic at the age of 6, in Toulouse, after school, I was immediately attracted by the shapes of the Arabic letters, so particular, so harmonious.
This admiration became a real passion when, much later, I started to learn Arabic calligraphy and then European calligraphy.
My calligraphies, with their sober style, are a way for me to express this fascination and to highlight these ancestral letters.
I feel a kind of affection for each of these letters that take shape under my hand.
In my eyes, the aesthetics of these letters outweigh their meaning.
When I write calligraphy, my gesture follows my breathing, which allows me to give a spontaneous line.
I am at one with the kalam which glides over the paper and becomes an extension of my hand.
It is like a moment of eternity, a suspended moment.
For me, calligraphy is a bridge between different cultures. A way to express a message of peace and brotherhood,