Gourgen Khoudikian
Gourgen Khoudikian was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on June 24, 1919, to Abraham and Saparia Khoudikian. In 1924, his family emigrated back to their ancestral lands and holdings in Haftvan, a precinct of Salmast, Iran. Gourgen received his
primary education at the Golochian School in Haftvan and at the Gymnasium in Tabriz. In the Iranian Army, he served as a cartographer and translator for the Allied Forces during WWII. From 1943-1946, he served both as a teacher and as the principal of Haftvan School. Gourgen was instrumental in the construction of the Haftvan Theater of Salmast. He also established and directed the theater company, often taking on
acting roles himself.
In 1946, Gourgen repatriated to Armenia with his wife, Emma, where they raised their three children, Kaaren, Kariné, and Arminé. In 1957, Gourgen graduated with honors from Yerevan State University with a degree in Geography & Geology. From 1946-1970, he worked as a graphic illustrator for books at the Hayastan Haypetrat State Publishers, where he achieved director status of the graphics department. In 1960, Gourgen designed a new Armenian alphabet font called Kroonk. He received honorary recognition for the innovative and artistic font design at a state competition that was soliciting new letter fonts. His Kroonk font was later used in multiple widespread publications. Examples of publications with his art direction and book cover designs include Socioeconomic Views by Grigor Tatevants and The Evolution and Structure of the Armenian Language by G. Jahookian.
In 1970, Gourgen and his family immigrated to Michigan, USA, where he continued to pursue his passion in graphic illustration. While in Michigan, Gourgen designed two historical posters depicting the plundered towns and villages of the 1915 Genocide along with the counts of murdered Armenians. He spent an enormous amount of time researching the information and documented the grim statistics using striking symbolism and imagery on the posters. Reprints of these posters are now distributed amongst many Armenian museums, schools, and private collections. After completing the posters, Gourgen illustrated two unique Armenian Holiday Greeting cards which were sold at Armenian bookstores.
In 1980, Gourgen and his family moved to Glendale, California, where Gourgen worked
at a U.S military base as a civilian mapmaker until his retirement. In retirement, Gourgen
developed a passion for the digitization and preservation of his Kroonk letter font. He taught himself computer and software navigation, in order to digitally recreate the letters of his font. Throughout his life, Gourgen upheld Salmast traditions, often singing, dancing, and reciting in the local vernacular at family gatherings and cultural events. Gourgen was also multilingual, having mastered five languages throughout his life. Gourgen passed away on July 8, 2005, while visiting Armenia. He is survived by his wife Emma, his children Kaaren, Kariné, and Arminé, and grandchildren Niree, Lucine, Armen, and Grigor
