What Is Kankei Studio? The Story Behind Our Name
Kankei Studio is a branding, photography, creative direction and web design studio based in Dartford, Kent, with London within easy reach too. It's run by one person, with more creative hands brought in as a project needs. We're a creative partner for companies, here to help with whatever they need, holding branding, photography, creative direction, videography and social media under one vision, rather than splitting the work across people who've never spoken to each other.
Here's where the name comes from, and what it means for how we work.
What Kankei Means
Kankei (関係 or かんけい) is Japanese for relationship, connection or relation. It's a simple word, but it points at something we think about on every project: the work is only ever as good as the relationship behind it.
Why Connection Comes First
Here's the belief the name is built on: when it comes to working with anyone, what matters most is the connection you build. If you can work together happily, the result will be great too. That's not a slogan, it's genuinely how we approach every relationship, from the first conversation through to final delivery.
Where the Experience Comes From
Kankei is run by Gulraiz, a brand designer and photographer with seven years behind the camera before design training even started, and self-taught in design ever since. That mix is why the studio can hold visual identity and photography together instead of treating them as separate disciplines handled by separate people.
Before Kankei, he worked as a Branding & Creative Designer at Minimal, a micromobility startup, building out the brand and creative work in-house. At Brunel University London, he co-directed Made in Brunel 2025 Remastered, leading a 20-person team on a £25k budget to produce a published book, merchandise, events and marketing, putting over 70 students in front of the industry, including at New Designers.
That range, in-house branding for a startup, directing a large creative project from the ground up, and years of independent photography work, is what "one vision" actually means here. It's experience across the pieces that usually get split between different specialists, not a one-person guess at doing everything.
Who We Work With
Kankei Studio is built for businesses in Dartford and across Kent who want their brand to feel considered from every angle, handled by people who understand the whole picture, not patched together piece by piece. As the studio grows, that reach extends into London too. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.