A kandoura clad, shisha smoking Spiderman; an Arab version of Darth Vader called Shaikh Vader; and a combination of the Arabic letter “wow” and the English word “Wow” — these are some of the fun designs on the T-shirts available at Kanztee.com. And the nice thing is that these designs have been created by upcoming artists from the GCC region.
Kanztee, which was launched in September, is a company that specialises in custom-made limited edition T-shirts. And the Dubai-based enterprise has invited all artists based in the region to create original designs for the T-shirts, offering them a share of the profit from sales.
Kanztee is the brainchild of Sanad O. Karkar, a Dubai-based artist and entrepreneur from Saudi Arabia. Karkar studied art at the American University in Dubai and later moved to the United States, where he got interested in collecting and designing limited edition T-shirts. We spoke to him about his vision for Kanztee. Excerpts.
What is the idea behind Kanztee?
I have been an artist and know how hard it is to sell you work; and how wonderful it is to have people tell you that they love your work, want to put it on a T-shirt, buy it and wear it. So, the idea is to promote local artists, give them recognition, encouragement and confidence to create more. And my vision is to establish a local brand that reflects the growing art culture in the GCC region.
How does the concept work?
We have set up a silk-screen printing workshop and we print and sell limited edition T-shirts featuring custom art. We are inviting artists and designers from across the GCC to submit their designs to Kanztee.com. Each design selected for printing is available online for 72 hours and the “T-shirt of the day” is widely publicised on social media, along with information about the artist and inspiration for the design. When we receive an order, we print the T-shirt and ship it to the customer. Every T-shirt is hand printed and tailored to each customer. The T-shirts are made from the best quality cotton and priced at Dh99, inclusive of shipping charges, and we deliver throughout the GCC region within one week. The artist gets a share of the profit from every T-shirt sold. This concept is not new, but we have made it more focused on the interests of the artists.
How do you select the designs to be printed?
Some are selected by our in-house creative team. But most are chosen by the public through direct voting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our website. Each design is available in different colours, chosen in consultation with the artist.
What happens to a design after 72 hours?
It moves on to our “after hours” sale section for another 24 hours, after which it is gone forever and the silk screen is discarded. This maintains the exclusivity of the limited edition T-shirts and helps in focusing attention on the next artist. But if the demand is high, we take permission from the artist to do a reprint.
Does Kanztee support the artists even after their design is removed from sale?
Yes. Their portfolios remain permanently in the alumni segment of our website with links to their own websites. And we return the copyright for their work after three days, so they can continue to use it for commercial purposes if they wish.
Why did you name the company Kanztee?
My mother is from Syria, where the term Kanztee means “my T-shirt”. Since “kanz” is the Arabic word for treasure, and tee is American slang for T-shirt, Kanztee also translates as “my treasured T-shirt”.
Why did you focus only on T-shirts?
I fell in love with the culture of custom-made limited edition T-shirts when I was in the US. Besides acquiring a big collection, I also taught myself to do silk-screen printing and began designing T-shirts as a hobby. After moving back to Dubai two years ago, I felt that there is a need to develop a home-grown culture in the Middle East for awesome T-shirts designed by artists based here. And I thought, the best way was through an online portal that local artists can go to and showcase their work, get paid and design what inspires them. I love art and I believe that every blank T-shirt is a beautiful canvas craving a brush stroke of art. Kanztee.com is here to bring this art into people’s lives. Personally, I feel happy to wear something that is unique and that I relate to, and I want to offer our customers the same feeling.
Is this open only to artists and customers from the region?
Our focus is on encouraging artists from the GCC region, but we have printed designs received from other places too. At present we are shipping orders only to customers in the GCC.
Do you have any tips for artists regarding a successful design?
Different people have different tastes. I like quirky, humorous ones, whereas others may prefer something artistic. We have seen that generally people prefer simplicity over complex designs, and designs with an Arabic twist are particularly popular.
For more information go to www.kanztee.com.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts enthusiast based in Dubai.
