So, let’s say this all began in the Autumn of 2013, when I made my way to Hackney, in the East of London, one Saturday Morning and started studying with The Art of Islamic Pattern. The genuinely inspirational teaching of the massively experienced Adam Williamson & Richard Henry captured my imagination. At the time, as a full time maths teacher, it is fair to say, I had no idea how this seed that was being planted would go on to grow and change my life (dramatic - I know!).

In February 2014, at the end of my second course with them, I picked up a paintbrush for the first time. This still shocks me as I have always had some kind of creative outlet. Pottery, typography and woodcarving at one point too.

Skipping forward to January 2015, I moved to Fes in Morocco. This was in the middle of my year out from teaching Mathematics at Bishop Ramsey School. A year out that was taking on a life of its own. As busy as I was in attempting to learn Arabic, "shweya bi shweya", I found a lot of time to practise my art. The inspirational surroundings were fuel for my creativity. More or less on a daily basis, I was constructing or painting geometric patterns & floral designs. At first with gouache, and then with watercolour, always with a few metallics thrown in.

Whilst in Fes, I genuinely missed teaching Mathematics. I had been a Secondary school Maths teacher for 12 years. So the teacher in me combined with the geometry fan resulted in me organising and running weekly Islamic Geometry Workshops at the American & Arabic Language Centre in Fes (ALC & ALIF Fes). These were truly wonderful. Firstly I love teaching; secondly I met and made friends with such delightful folk. A genuine highlight of my wonderful time in Fes.

As of January 2016, I am back in London, on a mission to construct more, paint more and lead Islamic Geometric Workshop at various events and venues. Besides the ongoing in person workshops at Harrow Arts Centre, Cass Art Kingston & OPEN Ealing , I've also taught  regularly at Cass Art Islington,  SOAS and Cass Art Manchester.  I am in awe of and eternally grateful to the wonderful Cass Art, who have supported me and my workshops since I began!  You can see some of my previous in-person workshops here. (I did run out of steam keeping the website upto date so it;s till Dec 2019!

​My ventures into Islamic Geometry went online in June 2016. Udemy has been a great platform for my first online course, perfect for absolute beginners. My second online course went live in April 2017, an intermediate course to take people forward with their construction skills as well as ideas and techniques for painting patterns. Currently I have over 4600 students enrolled in 104 countries. I love seeing their initial intrigue and fascination grow as they produce the wonderful patterns and constructions. Some have shared their work using the hashtag #samiramianonlinecourse.
 
Lock down made for some mega changes, I updated my YouTube channel with an additional 27 indepth and detailed  vidoes, including two free tutorial seires on Twelvefold Rosettes and Fivefold Patterns , with 40K subscribers all being able to access this world of patterns is by far one my favourite things!
 
Lock down got us Zoom- literate and I ran two really enjoyable online  Zoom courses with Dr. Esra Al Hamal, see the Mamluk Manuscripts and Uzbekistan pattern tour.
 
Lockdown also introduced me to the world of Patreon, it's a way for me to earn a living from my patrons, they support me in my work I teach them a new pattern every month via Zooms + Recordings + PDF guides. I love it so much, as the Patreon Pals are such a talented & encouraging bunch! It's the one thing that has made me feel the most financially stable!
 
Through Lockdown and as we came back to the new normal, I was working more and more with organisations & brands I was familiar with and being in London really does help! I've run workshops in-person & online with some dream organisations, brands ans museums: