Our Story
“Life is pretty good when it is filled with captivating pattern and buckets of vibrant colour.”
I love painting. You start out with an idea and off you go and sometimes it turns out completely differently to what you thought would happen when you started. This is such a fun way to paint and I always think that sometimes plans are meant to be thwarted as then you have the best adventures. Our life story has been a little bit the same.
One of the first patterns I learnt was taught to me by Tasleema Alam, an amazing teacher and now a very good friend and mentor. I walked into her studio in Dhaka, after seeing an ad for an ink drawing class, and saw wonderful geometric shapes on her walls, instantly I knew that this was what I wanted to learn. By chance, that very year, I was going to Spain for the first time and was able to see so much beautiful Islamic geometry. It cemented my fate, I fell in love, and I am so happy everything aligned to lead me down this fortuitous path!
The paths we take can lead us so far from where we thought we would end up!
Now, after living and working in so many different countries, we have moved to Granada in Spain. The Alhambra is here and is so absolutely glorious, beautiful and inspiring. There is so much history in this art form, history and craft from all different lands and I have seen that in my travels and learnt from it. I do think it is really one of the true communal art forms and it has filled a part of my spirit in ways I never imagined possible.
As I draw these incredible designs and wait to see what happens, it brings me a calm and peacefulness. Sometimes my version looks so different it turns itself into something else, something new. Just like life does if you take the path of adventure and positivity, to me this is so exciting, both in life and in art. I do see this as a communal art form and now it is my turn to share it with others.
“It’s art. So it has to be enjoyed…”
One of the things I love about this kind of art is the way a pattern emerges from a tangle of lines and curves to become something beautiful. Then, as you are painting, it expands out further and further into luscious colours.
As soon as I can see the colours in my head I want to work with them. Those colours and lines move together and I love that it feels like they are dancing a little dance. I work with gouache, watercolour and lots of gold. Capturing those colours in a print was incredibly important to me. So all of our prints are made to represent those luscious colours in all their pigmented glory.
For our prints I use giclée art prints to get the finish that I want. I use museum quality acid free paper that is highly resistant to aging and designed to hold its colour. I work just as hard finding the right way to print these artworks as I did to make them. It is something that is incredibly important to me.
“I love the beautiful pieces you make. They are so wonderfully finished. The colours are stunning. And the golds! I love the way they shine. They just light up!”
- Rachel