A group of Bradford artists is bidding to set up a centre for world-class Islamic art training in the city.

The arts collective Spiritual Tree is planning to set up a college to offer courses in the arts of Islamic calligraphy, illumination which involves the use of gold leaf, wood carving and creating geometric tiles.

The group hopes graduates from the college will be able to offer their services to mosques around the country and other owners of other buildings wanting to use Islamic art in their decor.

Classes will be taught by Illuminist Mahmud Manning.

Mr Manning, 35, completed a Masters degree in Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts at the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture in London, before travelling to Istanbul to work with Turkish masters.

He said: "I am looking for people to train so that they will be able to go into mosque decoration.

"We will take on apprentices for a three year training programme, and at the end of that time they will be able to offer their skills in several different businesses."

Mr Manning said he hoped the school would be up and running by the end of next month.

Atif Imtiaz, 33, chairman of Spiritual Tree said: "There has been a Muslim presence in Bradford for a few decades and we wanted to bring some of our cultural heritage to the city.

"Many of us have been inspired by Islamic art and architecture in our travels to places such as Morocco and Tunisia, and we felt there should be some development of that here. We hope to bring some of the beauty and transcendence of Islamic arts that can be found in other parts of the world to Bradford."

Mr Imtiaz said calligraphy classes held in Bradford last year had proved extremely successful and had been attended by more than 80 students. The project is being funded by the Islamic collective but the group are looking for support from local businesses.

Anyone wanting to help or find out more information about courses should contact Atif Imtiaz on (01274) 493223.