Our team
Asiil was founded by Abdallah Kassem and Christopher Grandage, who met in Cairo and found a shared conviction that creativity belongs at the heart of post-conflict recovery.
Co-founder
Abdallah studied Astrophysics before discovering that fashion and clothes-making was his true calling. As an Egyptian fashion designer, he brings scientific rigour, artistic craft, and a deep personal understanding of how creativity can redirect and transform a life.
Co-founder
Christopher studied History before pursuing peacebuilding and conflict mediation. Having grown up alongside Future Hope, an NGO caring for vulnerable children in Kolkata, he brings direct experience of community-level recovery and the approaches that support or undermine it.
Shared conviction
Together, they share a love of art, psychology, and new ideas. Having seen both the richness and the deprivation of creative opportunity across communities they have lived and worked in, they developed Asiil to bring inclusive, expressive spaces to those who do not otherwise have access to them.