Arab News | Sandal brand Tamashee urges fans to explore Arabian Peninsula

DUBAI: Footwear label Tamashee is known for its well-crafted and equally well-researched sandals, based on the crafts and traditions of the Arabian Peninsula.

Launched by Emirati designer Mohammed Kazim and Saudi designer Muneera Al-Tamimi, the label takes cultural heritage seriously and now offers interested visitors the chance to explore Saudi Arabia and the wider peninsula through a second, newer business — Tamashee Experiences.

Kazim said he had posted photographs while traveling and had been asked repeatedly to bring people along. “People kept asking us, ‘Where are you? This looks incredible. Why don’t you take us with you?’” he said.

The pair run guided cultural, covering food, nature, archaeology, history, clothing, traditional markets and folklore.

“Rather than us simply telling you about a culture, you meet the people who live it,” Kazim said. “You eat with them, listen to their stories, walk through their landscapes and understand things firsthand.”

The trips have run to Taif, Asir, AlUla, Qassim, Al-Jawf and Kumzar. The most recent took travelers to Asir in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near Abha.

“The highlight of Asir is experiencing its culture firsthand, from its dramatic landscapes and traditional villages to its food, architecture, folklore and, most importantly, its people. What fascinates us is the incredible diversity within such short distances: from the high mountains (Saraah) to the lower valleys (Tehama), the desert and the coast, each with its own clothing, accents, food and visual identity,” Kazim said.

The duo have channeled their love for the region into their brand, rebuilding the traditional Arabian sandal as a contemporary product, introducing new leathers, laser techniques and reworked patterns.

“For us, it’s about preserving the soul of the object rather than preserving every detail exactly as it was,” Kazim said. “The side ring connections and the toe separator, for example, are elements we stayed true to because they are part of what makes the sandal recognizable.”

“We shared a passion for the identity and culture of our region, and we were both concerned that parts of that identity were slowly drifting away.”

He added their different nationalities had not shaped their work: “What connects us is a shared passion for the cultures of the Arabian Peninsula as a whole.”

Each pair carries the hijri year printed inside the right sandal.

“The hijri date is almost like a private detail between Tamashee and the person wearing the sandal,” Kazim said, adding customers had started to keep pairs from consecutive hijri years.

Collections are built around themes chosen to work across the region. “A lot of our themes deliberately cross modern borders because culture itself often does,” Kazim said.

The current collection draws on the Arabian dagger, he said: “It’s an object that appears in different forms across the Arabian Peninsula, across countries and across tribes.”

Developed with Emirati researcher Halima Abdullah Rashid Muhammad, it reworks geometric motifs from dagger ornamentation as embossing on leather and reimagines the stitches used on dagger belts as lines across the sandals.

Kazim said: “Ultimately, we’re designing from the Arabian Peninsula, but we’re designing for a global audience.”