A Journey of Reclaiming Creativity, Family Legacy and the Bridge Between Technology and Art.
People often ask me where the name IMIJS came from. Most assume it's an acronym for a technology company or a made-up brand name. The truth is far more personal.
Who I Am
My name is Javed Saddique, founder of IMIJS, and this story didn't begin with an app. It began many years earlier with a young man trying to decide who he wanted to become.
Choosing Security Over Passion
In 1998, after completing my GCSEs, I left school feeling scared and unsure about my future. I enrolled at college knowing I wanted to build a career, but I couldn't decide whether that career should be in Art or Information Technology.
On the day of enrolment, both classrooms were in the same corridor.
I walked towards the Art room. Art had always been part of my life, but comparing myself to others had convinced me I wasn't good enough. I believed art would never provide a secure future and that I would never reach the standard of other artists.
I stood outside the classroom with my right hand resting on the door handle.
I paused.
Then I let go.
Instead of opening the door, I turned around, walked a few steps to the IT classroom and enrolled on an Information Technology course instead.
It felt like the sensible decision. Technology offered security, opportunity and a future.
A little later, the tutor called each student to the front and asked why we had chosen the course. When it was my turn, he looked at me and asked:
"Why do you want to study IT?"
Without thinking, I replied:
"I want to be an artist."
He looked up, slightly confused. "You do realise this is IT?"
The whole classroom burst into laughter. I smiled and replied:
"Yes... I want to combine my art skills with IT. Technology is the future."
At the time, I didn't realise what I had just said. Looking back now, I realise I had unknowingly described the next thirty years of my life.
Becoming a Father
Becoming a father changed my life, but the birth of my second child in 2008 unknowingly planted the seed for everything that would follow.
My partner and I were sitting in the registrar's office registering our son's birth. Even then, we were still having one final discussion.
"Are we sure we want to call him Idrees? What about Hakim?"
In the end, the decision was left to me. I began writing his name.
Idrees M...
As I continued writing, I realised there wasn't enough room on the form to write his full name. The registrar smiled and said:
"Just use his initials and then the surname."
So I wrote:
Idrees M I J S
I stopped. I looked down at the letters.
IMIJS.
Something about those five letters immediately stood out to me. Without hesitation, I turned to my partner and said:
"One day that's going to be the name of my business."
At that moment, I had no idea what that business would become. I wasn't an artist. I wasn't building an app. I simply knew those letters meant something.
Today, IMIJS is named after my eldest son, Idrees Mohammed Ibn Javed Saddique, and has become a symbol of family, trust and legacy.
The name Saddique itself carries deep meaning within our family. It comes from the Arabic word for truthfulness and trustworthiness. It was a name my father became known by through his character before eventually adopting it as our family surname. Those values continue to guide every decision we make today.
Creativity Finds Me Again
At the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, Britain experienced some of the heaviest snowfall in decades.
By then, I had two young children. I wanted them to experience something unforgettable. I wanted them to know what an igloo was, not just read about one in a book.
So I built one in the front garden of our home.
That single sculpture became another. Then another. Soon I was creating polar bears, Eskimos fishing through the ice, horses and eventually even a full-size Lamborghini carved entirely from snow.
Neighbours stopped to watch. Families came to take photographs. Children smiled.
Looking back, I don't think creativity had ever left me. It had simply been waiting for the right moment to return.
Building Something for My Own Children
In 2015, I found myself missing something from my own childhood. I missed drawing. I missed colouring.
More importantly, I wanted my own children to experience that same joy while learning about their faith and values.
When I searched for resources, I realised there was very little available that combined learning with creativity in a way children genuinely enjoyed.
So I created it myself. I designed a series of Islamic colouring books for my own children.
Very quickly, one simple philosophy emerged that has stayed with me ever since.
If it's good enough for my children, it's good enough for everyone else's.
That belief led me to print and distribute thousands of colouring books and marked the beginning of a journey I never expected. It also became the philosophy behind everything I would build afterwards.
Founding the Studio
By 2016, IMIJS had become more than just a name on my colouring books. I still didn't know exactly where it was leading me, but I couldn't ignore the feeling that I had something I needed to create.
So I founded IMIJS Art Studio.
Many people questioned the decision.
"You're not an artist." "You haven't done art for nearly eighteen years." "You're wasting your time."
Part of me understood why they felt that way. I had spent years building a career in technology. I hadn't built a reputation as an artist. There were no guarantees.
But by then I had finally realised something that completely changed my life.
For eighteen years I had always thought an artist was the best in the world and that i had to be the best. Then I realised...
It was never about becoming the best in the world. It was about becoming the best version of myself.
That single realisation removed a weight I had carried since leaving school.
Over the following years, IMIJS Art Studio grew beyond anything I could have imagined. I had the privilege of creating bespoke artwork, murals, Islamic calligraphy, feature walls, sculptures and commissioned pieces for homes, businesses and community spaces across the UK.
Every project reminded me that creativity has the power to bring people together and create lasting memories.
A Career in Education
By 2021, IMIJS Art Studio was growing, but something was still missing. I had spent years building a career in technology and running my business, but I had always felt drawn to education.
So I started teaching.
I discovered something unexpected in the classroom — the same joy I had once felt creating art. Helping someone understand something new, watching their confidence grow, seeing a concept finally click — it reminded me that creativity isn't only about painting or sculpting. It's about finding ways to connect, to communicate, and to help others discover their potential.
Teaching taught me patience. It taught me how to break complex ideas into simple steps. It taught me that everyone learns differently, and that the best way to help someone isn't to show them how much you know, but to help them discover what they already have within them.
Those years in education shaped everything that followed. They shaped how I would eventually design IMIJS — not as a tool built for users, but as something built for people, with the same care, patience and understanding I had learned to bring into a classroom.
An App Beside My Bed
While my artwork was growing, another idea quietly followed me everywhere. Life had become incredibly busy. I was working in education, building my business and trying to be the best husband and father I could be.
Family plans became difficult to organise. Appointments were forgotten. Important conversations disappeared inside messaging apps.
I often joked with my wife:
"You'll have to book an appointment if you want to spend time with me."
The joke wasn't funny. It reflected how disconnected life had become.
Nearly ten years ago, I began sketching an idea for an app that would help families organise their lives, communicate around events and stay connected to the people who mattered most.
For years, that idea existed only as notebooks, sketches and plans beside my bed. I approached people for advice. I looked for funding. Most people told me to forget it.
One successful businessman simply told me:
"Stick to your art."
I couldn't. The idea refused to leave me.
From Notebooks to Reality
Everything changed after a family holiday. When we returned home, I shared my notebooks and plans with my youngest son, Salahuddeen Mohammed Ibn Javed Saddique, who was just twelve years old.
I asked him to read them and tell me what he thought.
Three weeks later, he walked downstairs and showed me something I never expected.
He had built the first working version of IMIJS using AI development tools.
I was speechless. For almost ten years I had carried this vision in my head. Now I was holding it in my hands.
Together, we continued developing the platform. I focused on governance, safeguarding, privacy, compliance and creating something families could trust. Salahuddeen continued helping to bring the vision to life.
Today, IMIJS isn't simply software. It is the coming together of everything my life has taught me.
It combines art and technology. Creativity and structure. Family and purpose.
It is named after one son. It is being built alongside another.
Most importantly, it exists for the same reason my colouring books existed all those years ago. To create something I would be proud for my own family to use.
Because if it's good enough for my family... I believe it's good enough for yours.