About

Welcome ! Ahlan ! Thanks for Clicking In !

I am Rafia and I am the artist behind Mahel. I live and work in London but my clients spread far and wide from US, Europe and the Middle East.
As an artist, I want to give you the opportunity to stay in touch with me and my work. My main area of work is Islamic Calligraphy and Digital Art.

Art for me, from a very young age was a means to escape. To lose myself into a world of colour. Painting is very therapeutic and sends you into a state of mind of calm. It was the only subject I truly enjoyed at school .. it did help that I had a talent for drawing , which was proven at every art exam from primary school right through to University. It soon became apparent that my parent's dream of me becoming a doctor was disappearing fast into the horizon. They couldn't see why I wanted to be an artist. After all no one else in the family was an artist and how could I even consider this as a "proper job" . I guess when you look at it like that its probably not that financially stable, but it does have satisfaction and thats the drive for a long term career. I always saw jobs in terms of what I enjoyed doing and not what paid well.


But for years after University I left behind my dream of becoming a Fashion Designer or Graphic Designer and plunged into Fashion Retail. Not quite the same thing but Hey ! it was living. I tried so hard not to lose that artist in me. Before leaving the Retail world I started to paint again. for myself to begin with. It was then I fell in love with Arabic and Islamic Calligraphy. The curves, the flow, the weight of the words. It was mesmerising. Historical and futuristic all at once. Since then its been my main inspiration of my work.


Being the rebel I am, I wanted to preserve the traditionalism in the composition but use modern backgrounds and colours. Break the norm so to speak. I have done this best with Digital Art. Futuristic, abstract forms that incorporated the beauty of Allah's words.
I have always had really good responses from people where ever I have attended and its nice to see that people enjoy the work I do and what I create. People are not afraid to ask for different things. My regular customers particularly value a personalised service in creating a special piece of artwork just for them .

Anyway enjoy the site . I hope to update it as regularly as possible. So watch this space !

Please let me know what your opinions and questions are, I will be more than happy to help.