The Islamic Decorative Canon, 2 out of 3

Girih Arabesque is another extension of the Islamic patterning system, girih tiles. These designs were developed much like Girih Extended, but this time every line is curvilinear. So now I've addressed 2 of the 3 elements of the Islamic decorative canon -- the geometric and the arabesque.

Girih Arabesque, Described

Girih patterns are composed of straight lines. The girih lines continue uninterrupted across polygon boundaries, and terminate at intersections within the polygons. This means that they are ideally suited for a conversion to arabesque using Bézier curves.

Where arabesque girih lines cross polygon boundaries the curves are tangent, creating a continuous flow of line. Girih boundary points define quadratic Bézier curve end points, and girih interior points become Bézier curve control points.

This technique of converting girih patterns to arabesque could be applied to the basic five girih polygons. I’ve applied it to my extended girih designs. As far as I know, this is the first application of arabesque to girih tilings.

Girih Arabesque

I've added Girih Arabesque to my web site. Girih Arabesque is another extension of the Islamic patterning system, girih tiles. These designs were developed much like Girih Extended, but this time every line is curvilinear. So now I've addressed 2 of the 3 elements of the Islamic decorative canon – the geometric and the arabesque.