This universe came to being by the word of the Almighty. Even if we refer to the past, this being is continuous. We have to say “everything came to being and continues to be thanks to a ‘word’ [by the Almighty]”. Therefore, Allah sometimes refers to His creations as words. Since everything came to being with a word (the ‘be’ commandment), everything exists in the order of words. The building blocks of words are letters. When describing the humankind, Prophet Ali said, ‘I am the dot under the letter b’. This means showing the compassion to see everything as a letter by going beyond words. I am a letter, you are a letter, they are letters: the hidden meaning in all of us is the reflection of the Almighty on us.

Islamic arts are based on understanding the grandeur and magnificence of the Almighty, and His different reflections. This led to the emergence of calligraphy to understand and reflect the universe and the words of the Almighty by letters. Letters, words and phrases are the foundations of Islamic fine arts. In fact, it is always the same thing described: To write the words of the Almighty, to record them as the most beautiful words on plates. Thus, all true believers have a bit of passion for letters in their art. They desire to diligently embellish their lives, reflect their inner beauty to the universe and express their feelings and thoughts by letters. What leads us to love letters is undoubtedly the divine words.

Now, we are pursuing different meanings of letters in different areas. By the help of letters, we chase new beauties, new memories in this universe, which also consists of words. By adding a letter motif on a table we use every day, we want to remember that this table is in fact a word, and that it bears the traces of the great artist behind the one who created that table. So, we put letters on tables and coffee tables to remember the great artist behind them. We wanted to attribute deeper meanings to everyday objects we use to follow the traces of the great Artist who created the people building these objects for us. We aimed to add letters to each product like a seal or signature to remember.

Islamic ethics is based on the principle of respecting, appreciating everything and valuing all creations. If the entire universe is the words of the Almighty, what’s the role of humans other than respect? Good manners are what we call as the great care and gracefulness we show to everything in the world we live in. Good manners refer to being grateful enough to make sure that all everything is in place, all are used properly, thanking their producer, and most importantly the Creator behind their producer.

By considering letters as a means to remember the purpose of objects and their usage areas, we want to rethink the value of objects. We want to reclaim respect for the objects around us, the tools and instruments we use by giving them names, and thus we desire to commemorate the Artist who gave these objects to our service. Letters are considered the passwords and building blocks of these objects. The mind building a contact between letters and objects did so to prevent considering objects ‘nonsense’ or meaningless in the universe. Objects are not things that we use once and leave aside: everything in the universe has a purpose. Everything is part of a greater being with secrets. Everything is a word, and every word consists of letters. To remember this, we celebrate letters.