Arabesque Studio's goal is to create elegant, personalized and aesthetically pleasing products for your home.
Our Story. 📖
Arabesque Studios was founded by industrial designer Rahim Bhimani. He started his adventure in 2014 while residing in San Francisco, California where he relocated to pursue an MBA in Design Strategy. While spending late nights in the woodshop, he set out a plan to design products for the Aga Khan Museum located in his hometown of Toronto, Canada. Fast forward to 8 years, he's back in Toronto and now has his own studio in Toronto where he hopes to expand his passion for geometry, design, and business.
The Inspiration. 💡
Over the last 8 years, Rahim has had the opportunity to have his products sold at the Aga Khan Museum, designed products for many dignitaries, create an installation for Nuit Blanche as well as design the interior of a Mosque in California and his second in Oakville, Ontario.
All his designs and patterns are inspired by architecture, the places he's travelled to and the people he's met. His work indulges in linear symmetry, and he loves learning about the beauty/sophistication behind Islamic geometry. His products/patterns are initially sketched, then implemented digitally, prototyped, iterated and physically produced by hand.
The Impact. 🙏🏻
Back in 2016, Rahim met someone interested in what he was doing and wanted to help him scale. Rahim gave him a set that ended up in Northern Pakistan! They were then shown to an all-women run woodshop part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The women were given the original coaster and they used the pattern as inspiration to create scarfs! The scarfs are now being made by hundreds of women and being sold.
"I did not expect this kind of impact when I started this endeavour. This is truly heart-warming and therefore, portions of all sales will be donated to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture to help women continue to work and develop their knowledge in the skilled trades." - Rahim