How did you fall in love with graffiti?

Deyaa Rambo: I started graffiti in 2005. I was born into a family of artists. My father is an art teacher, my mother too. Back in the days, I met some graffiti artists here in Jeddah. We developed a beautiful friendship, and practiced street art together. We didn’t have any experience about it. We searched a lot on Google to learn. We realized that what we had a lack of materials.

Abdulaziz Hassan (left) and Deyaa Rambo (right) in the Dhad Store workshop

Is that where your shop was born, Dhad Store?

Deyaa Rambo: In 2009, I was studying in New Zealand, and I went to a graffiti shop for the first time in my life. I saw all these products, I bought some, and I kept thinking about how to make this happen in Saudi Arabia. With Abdulaziz and our friend Abdallah, we thought about how to bring these products here to use them and sell them to our friends. This is the whole concept and idea behind Dhad. None of us had any real knowledge about business. So we started just for the sake of passion and art. We started in 2011. We brought some graffiti sprays and cans. We sold them at home, well, at Abdallah’s, actually. We promoted it on Facebook and through our friends. We did that for a year. In 2012, we stopped because Abdallah moved to the United Kingdom and stopped the business. I figured I’d do it by myself.

"When we started painting, people told us it wasn’t art. We have had these comments several times. We realized that it was a big challenge to make people see us as artists."

Deyaa Rambo

Why this name, “Dhad”, and this logo, the bear?

Deyaa Rambo: The name Dhad is a tribute to the Arabic language, the language of the letter “dhad”. The idea behind this brand is to merge the Arab culture and the graffiti culture.

Abdulaziz Hassan: After designing the logo, we realized that it perfectly reflected Dhad’s identity, through the rigor in our work, and the calm of our characters. 

The street art, this shop, your style… All this shows a little bit with the culture and dress codes in Saudi Arabia…

Deyaa Rambo: Dhad is not about selling products. It’s about showing a style, showing a lifestyle. The idea is just to express ourselves wearing the clothes we love.

Abdulaziz Hassan (left) and Deyaa Rambo (right) in front of one of their fresco in Jeddah

When you started out, how did street art resonate in Saudi Arabia?

Deyaa Rambo: When we started painting, people told us it wasn’t art. We have had these comments several times. We realized that it was a big challenge to make people see us as artists.

Abdulaziz Hassan: At that time, graffiti was despised. We were doing graffiti in a place that didn’t like graffiti or had a bad idea. It was a huge challenge to explain to people that in graffiti there is a mirror of our Arab society.

"We wanted skills to appear and to show that when we care less about material things, we can reveal pure artists."

Abdulaziz Hassan

Today you collaborate with international brands and artists….

Deyaa Rambo: We have collaborated with many streetwear brands, such as G-Shock, for which we used to be ambassadors. We also collaborated with Carhartt. We have made several collaborations abroad, in Germany, Paris, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain… We have collaborated with great artists, especially in Germany, with Hombre, Rusl, Loveletters Crew, Dater… All these artists, for us, are legends. We used to just “like” them on Facebook and Instagram.

And you organize public events in Saudi Arabia….

Abdulaziz Hassan: We have organized several events here. Among these, there was Mirkaz. It was an event whose purpose was to promote our society. We initiated the project at Dhad and were joined by several friends later. We also designed this event to showcase street art. We wanted skills to appear and to show that when we care less about material things, we can reveal pure artists.