Shota Rustaveli Aphorisms with Contemporary, Non-traditional Ornaments

With this publication, the reader will have an opportunity to rethink "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" and examine completely different visuals.

The project aims to promote "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" and renew it for the new generation. The author of the publication is "Rustaveli 850", project manager is Luka Kutateli, the illustrations are created by Salome Jokhadze and the design is done by Natalia Avaliani. The creative group wanted to create modern, simple and renewed aesthetics of Shota Rustaveli.

As a designer of the book, Natalia Avaliani noted, this collection must have been different and visually interesting.

"First, who I remembered, was Salome Jokhadze. I am in love with her illustrations from the time when I recognized them. "Make Rustaveli Great Again" - If it has not lost its magnificence. Perhaps, based on our renewed impressions to it, we treated Vepkhistkaosani the way we treated the rest sacred ones, which was to put them on the shelf and cover them with the thick dust. It is magnificent, but also kind of abstract, if we won't pay attention to one or two coincidences when this issue was opened up in a new manner. In other cases, Vepkhistkaosani is presented with the same standards with its aphorisms, "gold-sewn" ornaments. This is, when discussing the matters of this genius poem, million people from million will say, that the issues aroused in the poem are relevant topics in the contemporary world. While working on the collections of those aphorisms, first and foremost, frames were irrelevant."

Illustrator of the publication, Salome Jokhadze says, that for her it was a huge responsibility to work on such a project.

"There were some risks when I chose non-traditional forms for illustrating. I have seen lots of illustrations of Vepkhistkaosani. I grindingly remember examining process of different publications of the poem. I have never imagined, that one day, I would play a tiny role in this field. Since I am working in several media, I wanted to accurately choose the appropriate style for this project. The main inspiration were sketches, which I often draw for my tattoos. In the working process, the way of writing changed its form and as a result, became little by little traditional, gothic and comix version of the illustrations belonging to me."

It is a daring step to make such illustrations for The Knight in the Panther's Skin, on which the designers are also talking. As they say, surrealistically viewed and reabsorbing interpretations will be interesting for the modern reader.

"The visuals are interpreted in a new interesting way. The syle allegedely tries to link past and presence, express, that aphorisms of Rustaveli are nowadays as topical, as it was centuries ago.", noted Tako Chabukiani (Pragmatika's art director, designer).