Meet Rashi | Digital Design

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rashi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rashi, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Starting Ajaar seemed like a natural progression from my earlier work as a graphic designer and illustrator. I was always interested in clothing and felt like it would be a great new medium to take on. I was putting my art onto tote bags and hats which went well, then everything just grew from there. Then I found myself with a larger platform to share my art and stories.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art and design, no matter the medium, is a product of me as an individual. One thing I always tell to people is that there’s nothing new under the sun except ‘you’. As long as design is true to who the creator is, it’ll truly be different and unique. With that being said, my creations are rooted in my perspective on black culture, futurism, and visual art. As a community I feel like black people look so far into the past and are able to see amazing things, but we don’t look very far to the future. I always ask myself what does that look like for us, what does our culture/art look like in the year 3000.

Getting where I am today took a lot of trial and error, time I wish I could get back, but I’m also grateful for. I had always been drawing and painting since I could remember, but I first dabbled in clothing in 2010 in middle school. My mother had a screen printer and let me use it to design shirts for my friends and I. From then up until college I would try to start brands and for whatever reason just give up on them after a few months. In college I met a friend who introduced me to the manufacturing process and showed me the ins and outs of running a large scale clothing brand. In 2016 I started making clothes under the name ajaar, however it was a lot different back then. I started with more luxury garments at high price points. It was very hard to find the audience for that, and eventually I decided to take a step back from clothing and pursue visual art as a career. I dropped out of college so I had to figure something out. During my time away from fashion I worked a number of jobs, met many people, and went places that offered a valuable lesson that is still helping me today. One in particular that stands out is learning how to communicate with everyone. I’m naturally very introverted and don’t like to go out much, but the world would stop if people didn’t talk to one another. I had to learn to get over my inhibitions and just speak. You never know what can come from a conversation. We should all learn to be present in each moment of life, and actually take some time to analyze why something is happening. There’s a lesson in everything.

want the world to know that I’m just a regular young man with a passion. I don’t have a heart wrenching struggle story, and I wasn’t born into money. As long as you’re putting your heart and soul into what you’re doing, it’ll get across to someone.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I currently live right outside of Washington D.C. so we’ll definitely be spending a lot of time in the city. When it comes to planning things, I’m terrible so each day we’d probably be winging it. As far as shopping goes we have a lot of amazing stores like SOMEWHERE, Manifest, HomeCourt, and A Ma Maniere, but Georgetown as a whole is always a chill vibe to go shop and walk down by the waterfront. I could name a thousand food spots to try (no joke) but we’d for sure hit up the Union Market area which has 2 food halls and a bunch of restaurants and bars around as well. O-Ku is over there and it’s one of my favorite Asian spots. You can’t leave the area without trying chicken and Mumbo sauce from a carry out though, that’s an experience I think everyone should have lol. Being in DC it makes sense to go to some museums, we have a museum for literally anything. So whatever you’re interested in, there’s something for you. Northern Virginia is 15-20 minutes away, and I love to take people to the Torpedo factory over there. Contrary to the name, it’s actually just a big building with artist studios. One of my friends Alexis Gomez works out of there, he’s an amazing sculptor and painter. The torpedo factory is in Old Town VA which is another town by the water and there’s some great food over there as well. Vola’s being one of my faves.
Last but definitely not least, we have to go out on the town over the weekend. DC night life is one of the best in my opinion. A night on U street is the go to for club hopping if that’s your thing. Wild Days at Eaton Hotel is my spot of choice lol. It’s on a roof top and they usually book some of the best DJ’s the DMV has to offer, one being my good friend DJ Bast who I work with on art direction. Heading down to the Wharf or over to Adams Morgan are also some valid options for a good night.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to shout out God first for putting me in the position to do all I’m doing right now. Next my parents for supporting me in more ways than one. I also want to shout out all my friends that have helped me build out the brand through design, story, experiences, and more. Including but not limited to Nick Akoto, Chris, Akil, Julian, Kyle, J Tuck, Ceej, Cio, and Mori. I could go on and on, there are a countless number of people I call friend that have made what I do possible. Last but not least I of course need to shout out the supporters and customers. Being creative is cool and all but to be able to do it as a business is a blessing.

Website: www.ajaar.world

Instagram: @ajaar.world @rashi.ajr

Other: Tiktok: @rakuri

Image Credits
Kyle Mells, Niko Carter