Qastina Designs

Ayed Arafah, founder and director of Qastina Designs, was born and raised in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Palestine, near Bethlehem. However, like all Palestinians forced into refuge, his family’s history starts somewhere else. For Ayed, it was a small village named Qastina located in the Gaza Strip that his ancestors called home before the Nakba of 1948, when Zionist forces destroyed the village and displaced all of its people. That is where the story of Qastina Designs begins. 

For Palestinians, an ancestral home is more than a place or memory; it a promise to preserve their culture and one day return home. Ayed founded Qastina Designs to do just that: rebuild his connection to his village, turning memory into creativity and heritage into design.

Ayed and his team create designs inspired by Palestinian culture using locally sourced materials. From design, to producing, to printing, and everything in between, every aspect of the operation is done by Palestinians in Palestine. One of Qastina's most popular products is its aprons, featuring artwork and real family recipes from home, including warak dawali, maqlouba, and molokhia. Each apron is made with a locally produced textile called Al-Mansorie. The combination of history, culture, and community collaboration create a unique product grounded in heritage and resistance.