Bringing Type to Life, Mohamed Dardiri

Chicago structural artist and graphic designer, Mohamed Dardiri, is in the works of creating his first business! The new design-oriented business will allow you to purchase pieces of wood press board for DIY art projects of your own, as well as various structural art pieces created by Dardiri himself. The products will include structural build-it-yourself alphabetical letters, furniture pieces, phone cases, wall hangers, and much more. Not only will Mohamed Dardiri's work be available to the public, but it will be rather affordable. If you are interested in creating structural art of your own but don't have the means or necessary equipment to create, be on the lookout for Dardiri's new website, he will be offering supplies of pre-cut wood pressings and boards that will allow you to create structural art of your own.

Are you intrigued yet? Here's a glimpse into what you can expect from Mohamed Dardiri's new business project:

Structural Letter Art

     
Blank Wood-Cut Boards for DIY 

Wall Mounts and Artistic Decorations

Structural Furniture 

Though Mohamed Dardiri's website is still in its testing phase, I can guarantee you it will be worth the wait! Stay up to date on Mohamed's current projects and stay tuned for the unveiling of his special new business.  http://dardiridesign.com/436512/7097568/work/you-are-gorgeous

Celebrating Beauty, Inspired by Matthew Hoffman's "You Are Beautiful" Project

"Matthew Hoffman is a Chicago based Artist & Designer whose public works have been shared internationally. He operates out of his studio Hey It's Matthew, and is the custodian of You Are Beautiful (keeping the lights on & the floors clean). The hope is for us to share uplifting thoughts with each other. Now you are a part of it." - (http://you-are-beautiful.com/collections/matthewhoffman) 

Matthew Hoffman's project, "You Are Beautiful," not only continues to shine an optimistic light on the city of Chicago, but has also inspired countless designers around the world through his subtle means of complimenting the public using typographic art. In celebration of "You Are Beautiful's" three year anniversary, local Chicago designer Mohamed Dardiri recreated Hoffman's beautiful idea into a project of his own, which he has titled, "You Are Gorgeous." 

Mohamed Dardiri is known for his use of typography and placement of shapes in order to depict a visual story. In "You Are Gorgeous" Dardiri uses the same tag line as Hoffman's "You Are Beautiful," but brings a different meaning to the words through the way he presents this uplifting concept. As most typographic art pieces go, Dardiri puts extreme focus on the process of layering as his vision comes to life. The most amazing aspect of You Are Gorgeous? Crafting shapes and type by means of a wood carving press process. 

The wood press process begins simply with the core message, "You Are Beautiful" carved into a slab of wood resembling Hoffman's original design. From there Dardiri begins to outline various shapes into patterns that overlay the message pressed on the wood slab. You can tell this process was very tedious and required perfect precision.

Once the shapes were pressed into their perfect patterns on the wood slab Mohamed Dardiri began the coloring process. Using a collection of green, aqua, red, purple, blue, and gold paint markers Dardiri carefully colored in the overlying shapes creating a layered 3D effect.

Once the tedious process of coloring each shape was complete it appears that Dardiri cut deeper into and then outlined the letters beneath; he then adds a gloss finish over the surface of the wood board and the carvings within to make the message underneath pop.

The finished product is absolutely stunning! Though Mohamed Dardiri did not work with Matthew Hoffman on "You Are Gorgeous" it is clear that Hoffman's work with "You Are Beautiful" inspired Dardiri to create something that can brighten people's life by means of artistic expression. In a short description on Dardiri's website the designer says, "This work is for celebrating the third anniversary and the success of "you are beautiful" by Matthew Hoffman." Paying homage at its best. 

This recreation is so important to Mohamed Dardiri's career because of the progress he shows and the ability to use different means to achieve a similar outcome as Matthew Hoffman's past work. Not only does "You Are Gorgeous" stand out as a beautiful sight, but it also reflects Dardiri's ability to surpass traditional expectations and hone in on a different layering process using crafting, wood carving, precise coloration, and 3D typographic representation. Be on the lookout for more work from designer Mohamed Dardiri, because if what we've seen so far is any indicator of Dardiri's capabilities, then the future appears bright and...well... beautiful! 

For designer Mohamed Dardiri, life is a beautifully complicated journey. It's the imperfections of this journey that make life so meaningful. In an attempt to depict a visual representation of life, Dardiri hones in on the interconnectedness of shapes, objects, and positioning to tell his story. In this physical installation Dardiri expertly crafts a visual story using simple opaque cube formations placed strategically in an unprotect manner. When viewed at the correct angle, Dardiri's cube installation spells out "LIFE." The opaque cubes are highlighted by beams of light, representing the often over-looked figurative light that shines on the world everyday.

The overarching goal of Mohamed Dardiri's visual representation of life appears simply to be able to read the finished product of "LIFE" in its final form, but it's the process of sifting through the complexities of achieving this clarity that makes this piece so moving. I'm not positive what Dardiri's exact motive for constructing such an important piece was, but I am positive of the powerful feelings it evokes. You can feel the emotional tension in the precise placement of each cube.

Life is inconsistent and painful, sometimes incredibly hard to navigate. I believe it's the struggle of navigating life in hopes to find clarity or light that inspired Mohamed Dardiri to create his physical portrait, "LIFE." Even in the darkest of times, when the need to feel joy and togetherness seems impossible to find, we may just be looking at life the wrong way. Maybe things would be different if we looked at life from a different perspective. The message Mohamed Dardiri is trying to push is that life is complex, but if you keep searching you will find that life is beautiful and uniform; it's the imperfections and struggles that make life, well... life. 

It's simple representations like this that make you think the most. Dardiri's design is well-crafted, imaginative, and inspiring. However, at its essence, "LIFE" is a simple reminder that life can be wonderful when seen in the right light, from the right perspective.