Meet Halima Essary: Creative Director & Arch. Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Halima Essary and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Halima, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
“I can do this better.” I have grown up with entrepreneurial parents & family. My mother has always had her own business. As a kid, I used to help greet her customers and find out what they needed. If it was something simple that I knew could help them with, I would take it upon myself to direct them. I’ve always had that mindset around me and as I started my career it’s the element I’ve missed. One day things clicked, I realized creating a business or product or even services, does not mean you have to reinvent any of it, but rather make it better and knowing you can fill that gap. Realizing that was the element I needed to push me to use my skills and make a creative business to explore the things I was interested in.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have always been on the creative side of things and always had a passion for design. I decided to go to architecture school because I found the idea of design and creating spaces for people to be in alignment with my creativity and passion. I also always had strong female role models around me and I think that played a big part in my career decision as well as my desire to start my own business. Creating Abstracts & Geo’s has been a bit of a self discovery journey for me. It meant overcoming the big perfectionist and critic inside of me and taking a chance on me, my ideas, and my designs. During quarantine I had this design in my head that I wanted to try out and 3d print. The design was for a small planter based on a fractal curve, most commonly known as the growth patterns of a snowflake. I later recruited some help from my husband since he is a bit more fluid in the software we use to parametrically model. We 3d printed the design and once we had a physical prototype I shared it with a few friends. Everyone was really supportive and said how much they loved it, it was the support system pushing me to take this and share it with others. Our background in digital fabrication started in grad school, we ran the Digital Fabrication Lab at UTA alongside some friends. There we were in charge of running the 3d printers, CNC, Laser Cutters, and occasional student guidance. We really love to explore the space between design and fabrication.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ah man! I would definitely start the day off with some delicious coffee! My favorite spot for coffee is La Reunion in Bishop Arts. We would walk around and stop at the cutest plant shop in OakCliff, Oasis. We would also stop by at the Autumn Moon Store in Bishop Arts, where we’ll find some of my planters and amazing work from other Latina boss ladies. For brunch, we could go to either Sixty Vines or Halcyon depending on the mood. This will presumably take all morning, if we wanted to do some more shopping we could make a stop by at Northpark, or stop at The Rustic to eat some carnitas tacos. If we were craving some Italian I would go to North Italia in the Harwood District. For some nice views of the city, I always like to go to Trinity Groves, around sunset time, enjoy either a nitrogen margarita from Beto & Son, or some delicious Drunken Noodles from Chino Chinatown. Klyde Warren Park also offers a quick stroll around the park for that urban feeling. If we wanted something low key, I would take us to Pizzeria Testa, in Lower Greenville, for some delicious focaccia & Italian pizza. Once there we could always walk around and either grab a quick drink or satisfy a sweet tooth at Joy’s Macarons. All in all, we would definitely go to my favorite brunch spots, coffee shops, & restaurants.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My cheerleader has been my husband. He encourages me to try new things, knows just how to talk to my perfectionist pseudo me, and has been there to navigate the journey of creativity and build a business. Mom has also been a major influence on my mindset and approach to business, and of course, my small group of close-knit friends has helped encourage me through the process. There have also been so many boss ladies I’ve listened to their podcasts or been able to follow and learn about their success as a spectator in a crowd that has really helped encourage and pave the way to sharing a stage.

Website: https://abstractsandgeos.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abstracts_and_geos/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abstractsandgeos
Other: http://abstracts-and-geos.store/

Image Credits
Personal Photo by Avant Multimedia