Islamic art from the Golden Pen, now open in Khan Murjan

Khan Murjan, a traditional souk with an Islamic theme and architecture provides 150 bazaar shops with vendors from across the Arab world in a unique marketplace environment.

It is based on a 14th century souk in Bagdad and is underneath the central mall at Wafi; it has four quarters - Egyptian, Syrian, Moroccan and Turkish.

The Golden Pen, in the Moroccan quarter on the upper level of Khan Murjan, is owned by Amir Hossein who was born in Kerman in Iran. His skills are considered as a traditional art in Iran which is very rare.

Amir moved into Dubai in February 2007.

His career in Dubai started when he first started to showcase his art in the Iranian Village at Global Village during Dubai Shopping Festival and now has created a permanent base to share the beauty of the Islamic art and calligraphy with the customers.

Amir is not only a calligrapher, he also engraves and carves into different materials such as glass, stone, leather, metals, including shells and jewellery.

Amir uses traditional tools and methods to create goods such as wallets, handbags, mobile covers, key chains and more made of different animal skins to engrave the name of the buyer in them.

He writes in different fonts and languages; Arabic, English, and Farsi (Iranian).

Amir also writes in ancient Arabic fonts that haven't been used in 2000 years.

He writes Quran verses, Arabic and Islamic sayings on different animal skins such as cows, sheep, gazelles, horses, zebra and giraffes.

What differentiates Golden Pen from the other stores in Khan Murjan is that visitors will get the chance to see Amir Hossein work on his arts and create different items.

They will also get the chance to experience the exquisiteness of the Islamic arts and learn more about the traditional methods used in the past.

"Because my art is very rare, choosing a convenient location is very important; that's why I chose Khan Murjan," said Amir Hossein, the artist and owner of Golden Pen. "I believe that my art compliments the retail mix available in Khan Murjan and its a new skill to be brought to Dubai. It will be nice for the customers to see me working live in my workshop by using traditional methods such as fire so that they have an idea of what the Islamic art was like."