Toby 01crop

Meet With

Toby Kind

He/Him; they/them

The proud founder and producer of Harem of No One, is here to steal the show only occasionally on the stage rapping or singing. Toby has superpower to be everywhere at once, mostly at the DJ booth, spreadsheets of the collective rolling right before his eyes as he is thinking about the next big thing awaiting Harem.

Toby Kind, or Arin Ariman, is an explorer, bouncing from one galaxy to another, sailing where the winds take him. Born and grown in Istanbul, a city of total chaos, he went on to become an engineer, then live in Barcelona for a few years, only to return to his hometown to build a life. While he worked many years as a data consultant for banks, insurance companies and governmental organisations; he was lured to the appeal of the nightlife and into the magical world of DJing. He delved with super speed into this fabulous and exhausting industry, and became liberated -in his own words- from the shackles of corporate life. He DJ’d in almost all prominent and non prominent spaces of Istanbul, took the role of musical director in a booming venue in Karaköy; but that wasn’t enough carnage, so he decided to found his own music and entertainment brand Universe7en, to bring in knowledge from his intergalactic travels. He then went on to open the doors of a new mini-club in Asmalımescit, named ‘Kitsch’ and got a crash course on how the government crack down on nightlife made it nearly impossible for a sustainable underground venue to exist and thrive in Istanbul. He’s taken the decision to move to London and applied for immigration, followed by the surge of the pandemic. He’s spent half of the pandemic in Istanbul and half of it in London, devising plans to create an entertainment project for London with his good friend Martha Barbra (a.k.a. CPMX). Since he recently came from Istanbul’s scene, they came up with the idea to form a connection between the two cities, and give a stage to the drag/queer performers of Istanbul, for them to perform virtually in London. They have presented the idea of this ‘Zoom Party’ to the drag performance mecca, the Glory, who loved the idea. That event, they called it ‘Harem of No One’ and laid the groundwork of the collective that they are today. After the pandemic ended, Toby, took the reins of the collective and started recruiting performers and presenting the project to East London, still collaborating with the Glory. He is acting as the director and the producer of ‘Harem of No One’, while creating and managing some other events on the side. Being inside Harem of No One, he dabbled to be on the stage as well, training himself to rap, to sing and to look fabulous -failing mostly-. His performer style is a mixture of fantasy cosplay, club kid, ‘Gazino’ singer and clowning. He has also picked up his original work of being a data consultant and works for RSPCA (Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty against Animals).

  • Founder & Director of Harem of No One
  • Professional DJ since 2017
  • Champion of queer immigrant solidarity
  • Dungeon Master of fantasy tabletop games