Ayman Darbouche

Information

Ayman Karim Darbouche is a multidisciplinary designer, product developer and creative director, and founder of AYMSK, an independent menswear label established in 2023. His practice spans product development, garment construction, art direction, graphic design and visual identity, overseeing projects from initial concept through development and production to their final visual communication.

As founder and creative director of AYMSK, he oversees the complete creative output of the label, with garment construction, technical development, brand identity, campaign concepts, photography direction and digital output developed in-house. His approach considers the product and its visual communication as part of the same system, building a consistent design language across physical and digital touchpoints.

His product practice extends across jersey, cut-and-sew and outerwear, with a focus on disrupted, off-balance construction and garments built to carry visible evidence of their making. This thinking extends beyond the body into spatial and furniture design, including a hand-constructed sofa and lounge chair developed as studies of garment architecture, applying upholstery and sewing techniques to challenge the line between clothing and object.

Across art direction and image-making, he develops visual concepts from research through to execution, working across photography, styling, set direction, typography, graphic design and image selection to establish distinct visual languages across campaigns, social and digital platforms.

His wider visual practice includes work for music projects with millions of global streams, UK chart placements and coverage from GRM Daily and Complex, delivering artwork, visual identities and campaign assets for independent artists and major labels including Warner Music Group, Ultra Records and Payday Records.

He is available for creative direction, art direction, product development, design and consulting projects.

Email , Instagram ↗

Education

Self-Taught
Fashion Design & Product Development
2019-Present

BA Forensic Accounting
Second Class Honours, 1st Division
2017-2020

Experience

Founder, Product Developer & Creative Director
AYMSK, Independent Menswear Label
2023-Present

Tailoring & Garment Construction
Bells Tailors
2026

Art Director & Designer
MAK Studios
2022-Present

Visual Designer & Music Creative
Independent / Freelance
2020-Present

Referrals

Available upon request.

Skills

Product Development
Production Planning & Scheduling
Technical Specifications (Tech Packs)
Garment Construction & Sample Development
Quality Control
CAD & Technical Illustration
Creative Direction
Branding & Packaging
Print & Embroidery Production
Studio Photography, Lighting & Post
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom

Releases

(upcoming) Study 07 - Aymsmetric Split Puffer Jacket
Cut-and-Sew, Pattern Development, Bespoke Silhouette, Trims & Finishings
2026

(upcoming) Study 06 - Aymsmetric Technical Windbreaker
Cut-and-Sew, Bespoke Silhouette, Trims & Finishings
2026

Study 05 - Aymsmetric Shorts
Cut-and-Sew, Bespoke Silhouette, Trims & Finishings
2026

Study 04 - Sample Sofa
Construction, Cut-and-Sew, Seam Taping, Embroidery
2026

Study 03 - Graphic Tees
Cut-and-Sew, Bespoke Silhouette, Trims & Finishings
2026

Study 02 - Lounge Chair in Weathered Slate
Cut-and-Sew, Embroidery and Construction
2026

Study 01 - ‘Off-form’ Ash Blue Tracksuit
Cut-and-Sew, Bespoke Silhouette, Trims & Finishings
2025

Study 00 - Mixed Media Coffee Table
Construction, Woodworking, Polishing, Sanding and Bonding
2025

Press

Ozzcash - Daily Duppy
Cover Artwork & Logo Design, 2026 - Premiered via GRM Daily

Lil Macks - Oslo
Cover Artwork, 2022 - UK Top 75 Single (Peak No. 66)

RetcH & V Don ft. Dave East - Devil on My Back
Cover Artwork, 2021 - Premiered via Complex, Payday Records

Ayman Karim Darbouche

Email, Instagram, LinkedIn

Study 07 - AYMSK VISUAL & SOCIAL DIRECTION
2023 - Present

www.aymsk.co.uk
Photographed & Edited by: Ayman Karim Darbouche
Designed by: Ayman Darbouche
All rights reserved.

I lead the creative and art direction of AYMSK’s digital output, treating social as an extension of the wider brand identity. Product, campaign imagery, photography, graphic design and process documentation are brought together into one continuous visual system.

I develop all content organically, guided by a consistent design language and a distinct point of view rather than trend-led formats. AYMSK blue acts as a recurring visual anchor, moving between garments, graphic applications, digital touchpoints and the environments in which the work is photographed.

For the studio imagery, I hand-painted the backdrop in-house, creating an imperfect, textured field of blue rather than a uniform studio background. This extends the process-led thinking behind the garments into the set and image-making, allowing evidence of making to remain visible within the final photography.

Across each release, I allow the photography, composition and graphic treatment to evolve while maintaining continuity through colour, typography and visual language. The result is an identity that can shift without losing recognition.

ROLE - Creative Direction / Art Direction / Photography Direction / Graphic Design / Set Design / Image Editing / Digital & Social Direction

Study 05 - AYMSMETRIC SHORTS
01 August 2026

www.aymsk.co.uk
Photographed & Edited by: Ayman Karim Darbouche
Designed by: Ayman Darbouche
All rights reserved.

Asymmetric cut-and-sew shorts developed end-to-end from pattern through construction and finishing. Built from two-tone heavyweight French terry, the design is structured around an off-balance front panel, with a curved seam cutting diagonally across the leg rather than following a conventional side seam. The join is finished with exposed contrast overlocking, making the construction a visible part of the design language.

The full pattern and panel system was developed in-house, including the curved front seam and its grading across the size range. Development also covered fabric and colour specification, elasticated drawcord waistband, exposed seam finishing and repeated AYMSK typography placement.

The asymmetric panel forms the technical core of the piece. Particular attention was given to controlling the curved seam through heavyweight terry, allowing it to sit cleanly across the leg while maintaining its proportion and shape across graded sizes.

Produced as a limited run of 30 as part of an ongoing study into legible construction, allowing the process and method of making to remain visible on the exterior of the garment rather than being concealed within.

Sold out on pre-order.

ROLE - Product Design / Product Development / Pattern Cutting / Technical Development / Material & Colour Development / Graphic Application / Production

(upcoming) Study 06 - AYMSMETRIC TECHNICAL WINDBREAKER JACKET
22 September 2026

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www.aymsk.co.uk
Photographed & Edited by: Ayman Karim Darbouche
Designed by: Ayman Darbouche
All rights reserved.

Asymmetric technical windbreaker developed end-to-end from pattern through construction and finishing. The shell is built around a split colour-block system, contrasting black and stone through an off-balance panel break across the body. Blue taped seams arc across the chest, hood and sleeves, functioning as both a technical sealing method and a defining surface graphic.

The full panel layout and seam geometry were developed in-house, mapping the colour-block split and taped lines to create a continuous visual language across the hood, body and sleeves. Development also covered material and colour specification, waterproof taped zips, double front zip, chest and hand pockets, adjustable hood and hem, and bonded seam construction.

A key technical consideration was resolving the contrast taping across intersecting panels and curved seams, maintaining clean, continuous lines while accommodating the functional requirements of the shell construction. This allowed the asymmetric graphic language to emerge directly from the garment's construction rather than being applied as decoration.

Part of an ongoing outerwear study into legible construction, exposing the methods of assembly and technical detailing that would conventionally be concealed within the garment.

ROLE - Product Design / Outerwear Design / Product Development / Pattern Development / Technical Development / Material & Colour Development / Construction / Production

CLIENT WORK - CARHARRT X LORD APEX for MERCH DESIGN
30 July 2022

Creative Direction by: Ayman Karim Darbouche
Graphic Design by: Ayman Karim Darbouche
All rights reserved.

Carhartt WIP × Lord Apex merch capsule. Creative direction and design across the full range. Logo, graphics, garment placement and production-ready artwork.

The capsule works the Carhartt identity rather than sitting beside it. The brief carried a fixed brand requirement: the Carhartt logo had to remain prominent on every piece. The capsule answers that by working the Carhartt identity rather than sitting beside it , using the mark as the composition instead of treating it as a constraint to design around. The hooded sweat carries a letterbox crop of the artist's eyes printed across the chest, the Carhartt square logo held in its usual corner so the print reads as a takeover of the existing garment rather than a patch added to it. The tee turns the Carhartt "C" into the composition itself. The mark blown up to fill the body in workwear gold, the Lord Apex hand-tag set inside the negative space of the curl. The beanie keeps it quiet: the hand-drawn artist tag embroidered alongside the original woven label, one signature meeting another.

Directed the visual approach and designed each piece, setting the hand-lettered Lord Apex mark as the through-line across the range. Built the graphics as a combination of screen print and embroidered logos, the embroidery sitting over the print to bring physical texture and raise the mark off the surface rather than leaving it flat. Resolved every placement so it locked to Carhartt's existing logo geometry, and prepared both the print and embroidery files to production spec across the run.

Released as a limited capsule. Sold out.

Study 00 - MIXED MEDIA COFFEE TABLE
7th July 2025

Mixed Media, Wood & Glass. A coffee table pairing raw timber with frameless glass, two opposed materials set against each other with nothing between them but the join.

The legs are sections of timber taken from the garden, bark and grain left untouched, standing as found. The top is glass sourced raw and finished by hand, cut to shape, the edges sanded and polished down to a clean frameless plane. Then carried on the cut faces of the logs alone, with no brackets, joinery or visible fixings. The weight and irregularity of the wood sits beneath the precision of the worked glass, so the surface appears to rest, unsupported, on standing timber.

Sourced and finished the glass end to end and took the timber straight from the ground, setting raw found material against clean hand-worked construction. A study in treating an object with the logic of a garment.

The method of making left visible rather than concealed.

CLIENT WORK - JAMILAH BARRY for VINYL DESIGN & MERCH
16 December 2025

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Vinyl packaging and identity, designed end to end. Logo, layout, typesetting and credit architecture.

The logo is handwritten, drawn to read as if by her own hand, the same hand which writes her lyrics. Her writing is intimate and close, and the mark is set to carry that directly rather than dress it up.

The sleeve is built on a single portrait, pushed deep into grain and shadow so the face reads out of the black rather than over it.

The back carries the full track and credit system against the same field: the wordmark held at top and foot, tracklist and production credits split into two columns and centred so the space between them does the structural work. Developed the full type layout and grid, mapping performance and writing credits down the left and production credits down the right so each track reads across as one line. Set the lower credit block as a single continuous run, and resolved the motif from front to reverse so cover and back read as one object.

Held the hierarchy without rules or boxes, the alignment alone carrying the order, which on a sleeve this dark is the difference between credits that disappear and credits that hold.

Extended the identity into merch across two pieces, oversaw and fulfilled production end-to-end. A black tee carries the twelve-dot grid on the front and the full tracklist across the back, the song titles scattered off-grid in her own hand. A white tour tee is built on a slogan front, "I WENT TO A Jamilah Barry CONCERT WBU?", with the Debut Full Circle Tour dates run across the back, set typography against handwritten venue and city marks so the system holds the same warm-against-cold tension as the sleeve. Managed the print production and delivered the finished garments.

Study 02 - LOUNGE CHAIR in WEATHERED SLATE
10th February 2026

Lounge chair reupholstered as a study in garment architecture, a mass-produced IKEA frame refitted with cushions built using the logic and techniques of clothing rather than furniture. Construction, cut-and-sew, embroidery and finishing.

The original upholstery was stripped and replaced with soft, sewn panels constructed like a garment, quilted and seamed by hand, then refitted to the existing steel frame so the new textile and the industrial structure read as two opposed materials. A working patch pocket is set into the backrest and the AYMSK mark is embroidered across the cushions in contrast blue, detailing the chair exactly as a garment would be. It even carries a woven hang-tag, the same as a piece of clothing.

The embroidery is placed as method rather than decoration: the mark runs across seams and repeats where it shouldn't, doubling up and sitting off-register on purpose, error treated as evidence of the hand that made it, the same principle that drives the clothing. Built the replacement cushions end to end, panelling, sewing, quilting and embroidery. Taking a generic, anonymous production object and rebuilding its soft components by hand.

Part of an ongoing practice extending garment construction beyond the body into furniture and space.

CLIENT WORK - LORD APEX X V DON for VINYL DESIGN
15 March 2022

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Vinyl packaging and identity, designed end to end. Creative direction, layout, typesetting and print file preparation.

The concept builds the record as a period apothecary, "Supply & Demand" set as a vintage chemist's shopfront, the project's themes of scarcity and trade carried through a 1920s drugstore rather than stated outright. The front is staged as the shop exterior, hand-lettered signage stacking the artists' names into the storefront fascia; the reverse moves inside to the dispensary, each track set as a labelled apothecary bottle lined across the shelves so the tracklist reads as a row of remedies.

Directed the full visual world and built the layout to hold it. Set the hand-lettered display type and the bottle-label system, naming and placing each track as its own labelled jar, and laid the feature credits and full production credit block so the hierarchy holds against the dense monochrome field without rules or boxes. Resolved the front and reverse to read as one continuous object, exterior to interior, signage to shelf.

Prepared the final artwork for vinyl production, full bleed, dimensions and spine set to pressing spec, files supplied print-ready end to end.

Released via Tuff Kong Records and sold out.

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