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Dr. Mehmet Refii Kileci was born in Fatih, Istanbul in 1962. The place where he was brought up is a historical area in Istanbul. Kileci had an interest in the art of marbling (Ebru) and calligraphy (Hat) in his childhood from his grandfather′s calligrapher friends and pieces, which decorated his home. In 1975, he began learning calligraphy from Nureddin Elçioğlu. One year later, Kileci continued learning the scripts of Sülüs and Nesih from the calligrapher, Hamid Aytaç until 1980. In the same year, Kileci went to Medina for his education at the Faculty of Divinity of Islamic University in Medina. While staying in Medina, he learned calligraphy from Ahmet Ziya Bey, who was a brother of the poet Ulvi Kurucu Bey. Kileci also learned the script of Talik from a composer, Tanbur player and calligrapher, Kemal Batanay. In 1977, Kileci participated in classes of marbling (Ebru) from an Ebru artist and Ney player, Niyazi Sayın at Süleymaniye Library. Later, Kileci continued to learn the art of Ebru from Mustafa Düzgünman.
During studying in Medina, Kileci participated in a calligraphy competition and won the first prize. He completed master’s degree (1987) and doctoral degree (1995) on Quranic Sciences and Studies at Marmara University, Institute of Social Science.
Kileci taught Arabic language, Quranic Sciences and calligraphy at the International Ahmet Yesevi Turkish-Kazakh University in Kazakhstan (1999-2000) and the International Western University-Dagestan, Federation of Russia (1997-1999). In addition, he gave classes of calligraphy and marbling (Ebru) and organized galleries, workshop and courses to revive the Islamic and Turkish classical arts in the Netherlands and Europe. Between 2001 and 2004, Kileci was a vice president of the Rotterdam Islamic University. Since 2005, he has served in the Islamic University of Europe and given classes on calligraphy and marbling (Ebru). He has published several books and many papers on Islamic Arts. In 2008, Kileci founded the Rumi Art Institute and Rotterdam Ebru House in Rotterdam. As of today, he serves as a Professor of Quranic Sciences at the Islamic University of Europe and continues his Ebru work in Rotterdam.
Reference: kileci.net
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