The Influence of Islamic Geometric Art on Contemporary Design in Katsina State

Islamic geometric art has shaped architectural ornamentation, textile design, craft production, and visual communication across the predominantly Muslim communities of northern Nigeria for centuries, generating a distinctive regional aesthetic tradition. This study examines the influence of Islamic geometric art on contemporary design practice in Katsina State, situated in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone. A mixed-methods design is employed, combining a visual survey of geometric pattern applications in architecture, embroidery, calabash decoration, and graphic design across Katsina metropolis with interviews conducted with 20 artisan designers, 10 art educators, and 8 cultural administrators. The study analyses the geometric principles underlying the patterns observed, tracing their formal relationships to classical Islamic geometric art traditions from North Africa and the Middle East while identifying locally developed innovations. The theoretical framework draws on Islamic art history, cross-cultural design theory, and the indigenous aesthetics literature. The study examines whether contemporary designers in Katsina consciously engage with the mathematical and spiritual principles underlying Islamic geometric art or apply the patterns primarily as inherited stylistic conventions. The interface between traditional pattern knowledge and digital design software, which now enables more complex geometric constructions, is also evaluated. Recent scholarship has called for greater recognition of the intellectual depth of Islamic geometric traditions in Nigerian art education. Findings are intended for fine arts departments, design schools, and cultural heritage institutions in the North West zone. Keywords: Islamic geometric art, Katsina, design tradition, pattern, North West Nigeria