[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="12127,12125,12126,12123,12124"] Shahd Alhamdan Saudi Gazette A group of young Saudis who launched Jeddah's first store focused on graffiti, Dhad Store, are altering social perceptions about the art form in the city. The store opened in 2014 in Jeddah's Al-Naeem district, and is owned by AbdullAziz Hassan, Deyaa Rambo, and Abdullah Saad. The store provides graffiti equipment and graffiti drawing services by eight resident artists. Speaking to Saudi Gazette spoke with Deyaa Rambo and Abdullah Saad, who said they are focused on young people who love art, and all kinds of artists, especially graffiti artists. "Since we added the Arabic culture and Islamic pattern, we wanted to name it with the other name of Arabic, which is Dhad, the pair said. "As you know it is the only letter that is pronounce by Arabs. It is something related to us as proud Arabs." Dhad store sells graffiti equipment, such as spray cans, markers, ink, and more. Different kinds of art, street art, books and magazines, accessories, T-shirts, stickers, and posters are also sold. Products have different prices for example, cans cost 32SR, while caps only SR 2. Gloves are sold in the store for SR 15, books cost from SR 150 to 359. Graffiti drawing services starts from 750 SR per square meter. "Our goal is to be the center of graffiti in Saudi and Middle East, as well and to transfer Jeddah as a street art gallery," the owners said. The pair said their business has had a positive impact on society, opening minds to the particular art form, and educating people with information about graffiti through events, workshops and other activities. "When we started no one could guide us to learn the basics and the techniques, so this is the time now to make the way shorter for them," they said. The Dhad team has participated in several exhibitions at galleries such as Athr, and participated in several live graffiti shows around the kingdom for clients such as Aramco, Burger Fuel, Teatro mall, Casio G-SHOCK, Redbull, Chevrolet, Toyota, Samsung, Jeddah Ghair, and the French consulate. In 2014, they also contributed to the world's longest graffiti wall in Dubai.
