Pascal Zoghbi

Founder of 29Letters Type Foundry (aka 29LT) in 2013, Lebanese designer and educator Pascal Zoghbi aspired to explore the diversity and potential of the Arabic script. Zoghbi envisioned 29LT with a cross-cultural approach. Having evolved, studied and worked in a multicultural and largely bilingual environment, he embraced multilingualism. Coming into contact with more than one language in his everyday life, he has developed an exceptional ability to think global and to reflect the various technical, conventional, and cultural writing systems into his work. Accordingly, he has excelled in creating innovative, high-quality contemporary multi-script type families, each of which is unique in its design approach and responds to regional and international market needs. Staying true to his culture, he worked on turning traditional Arabic script into contemporary type. Always on the lookout for new ideas and harmony between scripts, he explores various tools and techniques and regularly partners with a team of professional designers specialized in specific scripts to create multi-script typography.

He taught at design schools in Lebanon (American University of Beirut, Lebanese American University, and Notre Dame University) and the UAE (American University of Sharjah) between 2007 and 2017. He also lectured at universities worldwide, participated in design conferences, and trained on Arabic typography workshops.

In 2000, Zoghbi embarked on his graphic design academic journey at Notre Dame University in Lebanon, where he nurtured a passion for Arabic typography. Subsequently, in 2006, he completed his Master of Design in Type & Media from the esteemed Royal Academy of Art in the Netherlands.

His work has earned him prestigious awards like TDC Typographic Excellence, Granshan, AIGA, and a nomination for the Jameel Prize 3.

Since his move in 2018 from Beirut to Madrid, 29LT expanded its scope to support global multi-script approaches, tapping into other world scripts.