Learning how to carve letters in stone from Françoise Berserik, has been one of the most rewarding lessons in my journey as a type designer. You see tangible shapes whose spacing requires meticulous work and judgement. Many a times the final result is a testament of the carver’s journey from the starting point.
This stone was a tribute to my grandmother. It reads her name in Hindi and Urdu. Trying to bring in the flowyness of the Nastaliq was challenging and hence, rewarding. The consistency of the stone changed quite a bit, from smooth parts to super brittle parts, since there are veins of iron in the block. All things considered, I was indeed very happy with the result.
Devanagari conjunct ‘dd_dda’, is probably one of the most fun and complex shapes I enjoy working on. Also explored “negative” carving – where you carve the space around the shape or the countershape. The stone was very brittle and had glass-like chips which would break off very easily.