Bismillah Wall Carving — A Reinterpretation of Hamit Aytaç

THE PIECE

Hamit Aytaç (1891–1982) is remembered as one of the last great masters of Ottoman calligraphy — a hattat whose compositions are still studied and referenced nearly half a century after his death. This wall carving takes one of his Bismillah compositions as its starting point: not a direct copy, but a personal reinterpretation, translating the flow of his pen into the cut of a blade.

The calligraphy is carved into beech wood sourced from the Black Sea forests of northern Turkey using V-carving — angled cutting bits that follow the curve of each letter, the depth of the cut shifting with the form of the script itself. Each piece is shaped by CNC using 45° and 60° V-bits, then finished entirely by hand — the edges cleaned, the depth refined, until the calligraphy reads with the same rhythm and balance that made Aytaç’s work so enduring.

This is not a reproduction. It is a tribute — one craftsman’s reading of another’s hand, carried into a different material a generation later.

THE FINISH

Once sanding is complete, the piece receives a single finish: pure olive oil, nothing else. It absorbs into the beech rather than coating it, deepening the natural warm tone and nourishing the grain from within. No varnish, no lacquer, no paint. The color you see is the wood itself.

SIZES

— Small: 4.7 × 19.7 in (12 × 50 cm)

— Medium: 6.3 × 25.6 in (16 × 65 cm)

— Large: 8.3 × 35.4 in (21 × 90 cm)

A NOTE ON NATURAL VARIATION

No two pieces are identical. The grain shifts from one block of wood to the next — tone, texture, and pattern will differ slightly from what you see in the photograph. What arrives is its own thing.

READY TO HANG

A metal wall hook is fitted to the back before shipping. No tools, no assembly.