In 2005 I travelled from Sydney to Marrakech on a whim. I soon fell in love with the city and have been calling it home ever since.
It may have been the romanticised tourist images that drew me here, but Morocco's real, raw and gritty side, the melting pot of people and cultures and the creative energy of Marrakech made me want to stay.
Marrakech is a true melting pot where you can have one foot in the ancient past and the other firmly planted in the modern world. Daily life here provides an endless source of inspiration.
We are family
With my brother Alex, who lives in Brisbane, and a growing team of local Moroccan artisans, we've been quietly creating original handcrafted jewellery, bags, lamps and more for over a decade.
The seed for Hamimi was planted during Alex's first visit to Marrakech in 2007. We wanted to share the skills of Moroccan artisans to a wider world, quench our innate need to create things and perhaps most importantly, keep our families connected even though we live on other sides of the globe.
Over the years, the Hamimi family has grown to include a close-knit (or crocheted) team working together in our Marrakech studio and the many local artisans that skillfully bring our designs to life.
Meet Hamimi
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Designed & Crafted in Marrakech
Our designs represent a mix of different cultures and different times. We embrace the old and the new, combining traditional Moroccan materials and techniques with a contemporary sensibility.
Although we take inspiration from daily life in Marrakech, our aesthetic is often more in tune with my heritage and the relaxed, contemporary Australian way of life. We tend towards simple and minimal designs with a nod to Morocco through small details, the choice of materials and the techniques we use to create our products.
Our team of Moroccan artisans is at the heart of Hamimi. They bring life to our vision.
Unlike most places in the world today, many goods in Morocco are still made by hand. Artisan skills are often passed down through generations and are a source of pride. It is important to us that we honour and foster this tradition.
We also believe that handmade goods have an authenticity and a sense of life that gives them character and soul.
#farfromordinary
Right from the outset, we wanted Hamimi to be different from the mainstream, not just in terms of the products we created, but how we go about making them and how we treat people along the way.
When Hamimi was nothing more than a name we'd settled upon (it loosely translates from old Arabic to mean 'close to my heart') we penned the following list to help clarify in our minds what we wanted Hamimi to be ... and not to be.
These values still apply just as much today.
With kindness,
Rebecca & (Alex)
FOLLOW OUR STORY @hamimi_living
