Shared nostalgia with Mais Ahmad
Mais is a Syrian graphic designer and illustrator living and working in Budapest. Mais first reached out to us a few years ago as a supporter of our projects. We’re very excited to now launch our collab Dates tee.
What inspired you to pursue a career in graphic design and illustration?
Back in high school, I took a graphic design course having absolutely no idea what it is and it thrilled me. I’ve always been a hands-on type of kid and was always painting, crafting, making whatever I could. Even today I’m constantly working on different types of creative mediums.
During my university years, I grew an interest in illustration and ever since then have been working on expressing and translating my emotions and visions.
What is/are your medium/-s of choice?
I’m most familiar with illustration and I have more creative control over the work I make but at the same time I like having some type of system and grid and graphic design helps me in that sense.
What are some of the inspirations behind your personal work?
Moebius and Maria Medem are both some of the artists that have influenced my artistic style and themes. Maria Medem builds these wonderful worlds and stories with an amazing range of colour and fairly minimal lines, it feels like looking into a dream, and that’s definitely a feeling I like to invoke in my work.
What inspired your illustration for SkatePal?
I thought about elements that remind me of the Levant area. Back home, my grandpa would always have a bowl of figs and dates on the table, and I think this is an experience a lot of Palestinians and people from the Levant have. I wanted to express a shared nostalgia and connection to our lands and families, and the symbols that have age-old stories.
How do you find your colour schemes and do you work with your preferred ones or change these depending on the project?
I include a lot of oranges/reds in my work because I love the pop it gives and the things it represents: passion, love, life.
Desert scenes are common in my work because I find they can be representative of a wide range of emotions, experiences, and stories, and I usually have those reds and oranges in them. But I’ve slowly been stepping out of that comfort zone and being much more appreciative of the whole spectrum and how much other colour schemes and patterns or textures can feed the eye.
What are some of your plans for the future?
Recently I’ve been working with 3D and animation and I hope that very soon I can start implementing this into my work. I’m really excited about how adding another dimension will change my work.
Where can we see your work? I.e. social/website etc.
I share more frequently on my Instagram @themaisahmad and bigger projects on my Behance.
Dates - our collab tee with Mais is now available to purchase via our shop - all proceeds directly support our projects in Palestine.
