Interview: Khajag Apelian
[Sorry, this post is only available in English]
[Sorry, this post is only available in English]
Although now three weeks ago so no longer «news», the live launch of armenotype.com on Horizon TV in…
It could be said that Armenia is one of the world’s fastest disappearing nations, as waves of emigration going back centuries …
congratulations khajag! knowing how hard you worked on this, you totally deserve the grand prize!
Congratulations, KJ! I am very happy for and proud of you!
Congratulations, KJ – clearly a lot of hard work!
What you do not know is that I showed a slide of your work in my presentation ‹Typography for a small country — Armenia› at the Dublin ATypI conference in September. I knew of your competition success by then (as one of the judges) but, frustratingly, wasn’t allowed to mention it.
Congratulations; loving the «մե» ligature.
Best regards,
SB
That’s a beautiful typeface, congratulations!
Congratulations! Keep up!
Congrast :)
Warm congratulations from me too! An impressive and likeable piece of work.
FWIW, one thing I’m finding quite interesting with Arek is that (perhaps not surprisingly :-) it seems to show a rather «Dutch» flavor in terms of its soft calligraphic execution, and also in the decidedly cursive structure of its paired Italic. If you feel like elaborating, I’d be curious to hear if it was a conscious decision on your part to «transpose» a certain «Dutch» approach from a Latin-based context to the Armenian script – and if so, why?
Indeed — for one thing the Black is very Underware.
hhp
Beautiful :)
And nice interview too. Congrats!
Congratulations to Khajag. The first time I saw his typeface Arek was maybe a year ago on the Type and Media 2008–2009 poster that the students put together, and I thought «this design is quite refreshing and innovative». And that is exactly the kind of thing the Armenian script and Armenian type design in particular has been lacking for a long time. Keep on going Khajag!
Congratulations KJ! Very nice work :)
Congratulations Son , we are very proud of you. keep going on ‚wish you more success in the future.
Love you
Shnorhavor ella :)! lavakouyn paremaghtoutunners abaka dzrakirnout
Go Khajag, so proud of you…
Thank you guys for all the lovely comments on Arek, I really appreciate your support.
To answer Nina’s question, it is indeed very interesting to trace back one’s conscious or unconscious influences as they reveal rich parts of interweaving history. Most of the early Armenian metal type was cut by European masters such as Robert Granjon and Johann Michael Fleischman. This obviously led to the introduction of western principles in Armenian type and printed books.
In my case, being a scholar of Type and Media and having lived most of my life in an Arab country, the influences that led to Arek are certainly numerous. I am not sure whether I could tell which is Dutch, Armenian, Arabic, conscious or unconscious. I hope I was able to answer your question. :-)
Khajag, thank you for the thoughtful reply.
To me cross-cultural migration is not only unavoidable, but desirable. The question in my mind has always been: Does it always have a good result? And if not, how do we control it? We can certainly prop up a culture via artificial protectionism — but who does that really serve? This of course is part of the Globalization debate (which is no longer the Flavor of the Month — is that still Global Warming, or is that over too?) where type has a quiet but powerful role to play.
Hmmm, sounds like somebody should write an article. ;-)
Khajag, warm thanks for getting back to that question!
To me this whole issue of interweaving cultural voices is deeply fascinating, both in its complexity and its cultural reverberations (and especially in type). It’s intriguing how Arek was designed by somebody «rooted» in so diverse cultural backgrounds, and brings them together to spark something new. That opens up both interesting possibilities and complex questions; like, what sorts of concepts/ideas can successfully be «transported» from one script / one culture to another; and how do they work in their new context? I’d certainly enjoy more discussion about these sorts of things, here or elsewhere. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :-)
Khajo my brother & my friend!!
so proud of u, love u shad
Dear Khajag:
You are the answer to my prayers and probably others as well!
Since I immersed myself in the Armenian language, seven years ago, I found it very difficult to distinguish certain characters such as the գ, զ, դ, ղ, and շ. It is also funny sometimes when reading a text in front of people for the first time because some words exist with one or two close characters in common (i.e. շատ,զատ,դատ,գար,գառ…etc.)
As I am preparing a short version for our Armenian Mass and songs for children I believe AREK will be very appropriate. So I look forward to the availability of your font especially with the Latin counterpart.
Meanwhile, if you can recommend an appropriate type other than BARZ, I would be most appreciative.
Blessings always,
Michael
[…] delivering a high level of polish. This is very difficult to pull off, especially for a student. Apelian clearly has “the eye” and his KABK instructors surely played a role in quickly maturing his […]
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