About Ibrahim
 

Ibrahim was born in Vermont, USA. He grew up with a very strong connection to the natural world, captivated by the signs of the Divine order and harmony it contains, signs which continue to inspire him today. 

He attended the Putney School, where he explored drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture in wood, stone and steel, blacksmithing and jewelry making. In 1994 he travelled to Istanbul, Turkey where he began an apprenticeship with master woodcarver and inlay artist Husamettin Yivlik. He also completed a bachelor’s degree in traditional Ottoman art at Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University, with a major in Ottoman bookbinding and minor in illumination / tezhip. In 2002 he was awarded the Sabanci Award for highest academic marks in his department.

After a total of eight years in Istanbul, Ibrahim moved to Amman, Jordan, where he participated in the reconstruction of the Minbar of Salah al Din Ayyubi for the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, working alongside master craftsmen from Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia and Jordan. 

Ibrahim joined the faculty of Jordan’s Institute of Traditional Islamic Arts in 2003, where he taught woodworking, freehand drawing and art foundation courses for seven years. 

Having moved back to Istanbul, Turkey, he continues his multi-disciplinary work incorporating various exotic materials and utilizing skills such as pattern design, illumination design and painting, carving, engraving, turning, jewelry making and woodworking to create original works of art, craft and design for a growing list of customers and collectors worldwide. His designs have been used for the architectural ornamentation of the Zawiya of Abul Hasan Al Shadhili and Masjid Bushra in Amman. Ibrahim is known throughout the Middle East  and beyond for his innovative and original prayer beads (misbahas) featuring combinations of contrasting materials, detailed engravings in metal and use of traditional techniques to engrave intricate detail in the round onto tesbih components. His work can be found in several collections and he has participated in numerous international exhibitions.

Ibrahim is driven by a love of natural materials, the symmetry and harmonious beauty used by The Creator, and works to bring these back into our daily lives, as many of us are surrounded by a mass-produced, synthetic environment that fails to ground us and nurture our souls in the way only traditional art and crafts can. 

Ibrahim perceives the beauty that radiates from the work of his masters, and others, as a reflection of an inward spiritual beauty and creates his work as an integral part of his journey towards purification and spiritual understanding.