Zolaykha Sherzad | Zarif Design
Zolaykha was born in Kabul. During the 1978 revolution, she and her family went into exile in Switzerland. Disorder, deprivation and separation marked her adolescence. She found peace in her studies of architecture. After having traveled to Japan, she settled in New York and co-founded an architecture firm, ARX, which received numerous awards including the New York Foundation of the Arts Architecture Fellowship in 2000 and the Young Architect Forum in 1997. From 1989 to 2003, she taught architecture at the Pratt Institute of Architecture in New York. While living in New York, she also trained as a fashion designer.
Driven by the desire to reconnect with her identity and culture, Zolaykha went to Afghanistan in 2000. She decided to participate in reconstruction efforts. She opened an NGO, School of Hope, to support education in Afghanistan and develop a project centered on sewing and women. Through the realization of this project, she discovered that when women’s work with thread, weaving and embroidery is lost, so too is the social bond.
In 2005, she founded Zarif Design, a fashion and fine crafts company based in Kabul, which is still active. Zarif, which means “delicate,” “fine,” “precious” in Dari, reflects the rich Afghan cultural heritage of traditional silk weaving, chapanstriped cotton and embroidery. As a textile artist, she creates large, ethereal installations, Hawa e Azad - Free Space, exhibited at the 2009 Venice Biennale, in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011, at the 2012 Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, at Mucem, in Marseille, France in 2019, and at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, in Paris, France in 2022-23. In addition to these installations, recent exhibitions include Sur le fil, créations textiles des Femmes Afghanes at the Musées Guimet in Paris from October 2022 to February 2023, with a catalogue published by Faton and, and Tisser l'horizon à l'infini at the Association du Méjan in Arles, France from October 2023 to January 2024.
Zolaykha was born in Kabul. During the 1978 revolution, she and her family went into exile in Switzerland. Disorder, deprivation and separation marked her adolescence. She found peace in her studies of architecture. After having traveled to Japan, she settled in New York and co-founded an architecture firm, ARX, which received numerous awards including the New York Foundation of the Arts Architecture Fellowship in 2000 and the Young Architect Forum in 1997. From 1989 to 2003, she taught architecture at the Pratt Institute of Architecture in New York. While living in New York, she also trained as a fashion designer.
Driven by the desire to reconnect with her identity and culture, Zolaykha went to Afghanistan in 2000. She decided to participate in reconstruction efforts. She opened an NGO, School of Hope, to support education in Afghanistan and develop a project centered on sewing and women. Through the realization of this project, she discovered that when women’s work with thread, weaving and embroidery is lost, so too is the social bond.
In 2005, she founded Zarif Design, a fashion and fine crafts company based in Kabul, which is still active. Zarif, which means “delicate,” “fine,” “precious” in Dari, reflects the rich Afghan cultural heritage of traditional silk weaving, chapanstriped cotton and embroidery. As a textile artist, she creates large, ethereal installations, Hawa e Azad - Free Space, exhibited at the 2009 Venice Biennale, in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011, at the 2012 Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, at Mucem, in Marseille, France in 2019, and at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, in Paris, France in 2022-23. In addition to these installations, recent exhibitions include Sur le fil, créations textiles des Femmes Afghanes at the Musées Guimet in Paris from October 2022 to February 2023, with a catalogue published by Faton and, and Tisser l'horizon à l'infini at the Association du Méjan in Arles, France from October 2023 to January 2024.