London-based Lebanese designer Muriel Moukawem, who graduated from Notre Dame University and received her Masters of Arts from the University of the Arts London, has taken the world of greeting cards by storm. Move over Hallmark, you’ve got some stiff competition. Marrying different languages- mainly Arabic, French and English, attractive fonts and eye-catching graphics, Mukagraf Studio – the brainchild of Moukawem - and their greeting cards have become somewhat of an obsession to collect.
Oasis Magazine spoke to the designer and got some intriguing insight into what it takes to become a successful greeting card studio in this highly digital world.
How did Mukagraf Studios come to fruition?
I worked for various design agencies in London, including Pentagram, Big Fish and Black Dog Publishing. I also taught graphic design at the London college of Communication and Notre Dame University Lebanon. In 2009, I decided to start my own design studio - Mukagraf - that produces collections of greeting cards and offers a full array of creative solutions that includes packaging, editorial, digital, exhibition, signage, brand and corporate identities.
You’re a multi disciplinary artist and educator. How would you define yourself?
I have always loved this field in its different disciplines. When I was in college, I emphasized my studies on print and interactive media. When I started working I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects. Also, being an educator has taken me across different design areas through research and design education. However, print is still my first love because digital media can never replace that concrete feeling of having something you’ve designed in your hands. Today, I am best known for creating greeting cards because I was the first to create a greeting card line in Lebanon and the Middle East that combines Arabic, English and French in order to reflect the contemporary way of communication in the region. I think it’s always good to understand and demonstrate a level of expertise in all different areas of design but it’s very important to be specialized in one field!
How did you decide to start creating greeting cards?
I’ve always been arty growing up and I used to love design and enjoy looking at all sorts of printed materials and artworks. Originally I used to design personalized greeting cards for friends. I used to include our design characters, our nicknames and all sorts of mixed languages expressions that we use. Later, the encouragement of family and friends motivated me to translate these designs to products.
I was mainly driven by the idea of bringing a new creative quality design-led product to the greeting card market in the region since most of the greeting card lines in the market were international brands that might not reflect our culture.
All of the above factors combined have helped create my first collection of greeting cards in late 2009. Since then, these cards have found their niche within the market and formed a reputable brand.
Why the name Mukagraf?
When I first decided to set up my studio I wanted a name that doesn’t sound like a real word but that would be quite personal. So this is simply how I came up with “mukagraf”. [Mu] and [ka] are both syllables taken from my name Muriel Moukawem and [graf] from the word graphics.
In this “online” world, do you see a comeback to the greeting card?
It is no mystery that this online world have been taking over as more and more people communicate, read, advertise and even send greetings online. However, as I said earlier, I think that the digital media can never replace print as people will always appreciate to touch, feel, and see the paper in their hands. I think that the physical aspect makes it more precious especially when cards feature someone’s handwritten wishes, expression of friendship or other emotion.
www.mukagraf.com
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