Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation and Khatt Books publishers in Amsterdam. She works as an independent design curator, researcher, writer, designer, and publisher. She holds degrees in graphic design and design history from Leiden University (PhD, 2017), Yale University (MFA, 1990), and Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1987). Dr Smitshuijzen AbiFarès specialises in typographic design research and Arab design history. She is the author of several seminal books on the topic. She is editor in chief of Khatt Books’ Arabic Design Library series, and has authored two books in this series.

Bita Pourvash is the Associate Curator at the Aga Khan Museum. Since joining in 2012, she has been involved in numerous exhibitions and curatorial projects, including co-curating Light: Visionary Perspectives (2024), Transforming Traditions: The Arts of 19th-century Iran (2018) and curating contemporary installations Cultured Pallets (2023) and Faig Ahmed: Dissolving Order (2019). In her role, Bita oversees the Museum Collection’s biannual themed installations. she has contributed to several exhibition catalogues and delivered lectures on the Museum’s collection. Prior to joining the Museum, she worked as a researcher at the Royal Ontario Museum and as a lecturer at York University, Semnan University, and the Higher Education Center for Iranian Heritage.