Zolaykha Sherzad | Zarif Design
A resilient textile arts workshop in the heart of Kabul
In 2005, Zarif, meaning “precious” in Dari (Afghan Persian) was born in Kabul. Ever since, Zolaykha Sherzad has been fighting to revive craftmanship in the sewing, fashion and art sectors.
She draws inspiration from the works and photography of Swiss ethnologists Roland and Sabrina Michaud, as well as from engravings and miniatures of Herat from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The artisans of Zarif Design weave the rich silk and the traditional striped cottons of the chapans that has become a Zarif company signature, representative of Afghanistan.
Zolaykha reflects creatively on art, heritage and tradition, reinterpreting modernity while preserving the spirituality of what comes out of the workshop to promote creation and empower women. She devotes special care to sourcing her silks and cottons in Afghanistan, from respectful artisans to whom she provides assistance when necessary. Based in Kabul, and traveling between Herat and Mazar-e Charif, Zolaykha is one of the only artists and business leaders to recognize that the entire sector must be supported to develop sustainable fashion. She follows each stage of production, from spinning and dyeing to weaving, and the patterns are designed in collaboration with the master weavers before reaching the workshop for exclusive production.
In today's Afghanistan, this is no simple matter. In such a precarious context, keeping the workshop alive requires cultural resistance and the struggle to preserve three values, essential to Zolaykha’s ethos:
1. Active support for women in two main ways. First, giving them autonomy and financial recognition. And its corollary: training and transmission. These perspectives, alongside the history of the Silk Road era, have helped Zolaykha Sherzad to forge an evolving philosophy with training at its core: high-quality training for the workshop's artisans, and also training specifically intended for women with a focus on sharing, in a special place that she opened in Kabul. This includes training for women who have endured conflicts or crisis situations that have forced them to leave everything behind and migrate to the capital, ending up in internal refugee camps. A recent training course in the Provençal quilting technique for young girls who were taken out of school by the Taliban gave rise to a short documentary in which their laughter, bitterness and hopes can be heard. Supporting Afghan women also involves celebrating them through artistic works, often monumental, such as these large chapans that pay tribute to women in their multiplicity (ethnic or personal), complexity, and unity, stretching their silhouettes like a link between heaven and earth (see iconography).
2. The defense of the status of social enterprise, which is practically non-existent in Kabul, and of a model that highlights the economic and emotional role of this community of craftsmen, of which one should be proud to belong. The company’s aim is not only to enhance the status of textile artisans both inside and outside the company, but also to offer women the flexibility to work from home when conditions require it. For Zolaykha, this means contributing to rebuild a broken cultural identity, encouraging a joyful sense of community, and restoring pride and recognition to craftsmen and craftswomen, as in the case of this training in tailoring provided to women, a profession traditionally reserved for men.
3. The struggle to preserve the richness of this Afghan heritage and the application of the "Slow Made" approach to reaffirm the values of time and collaboration. Every detail is meticulously cared for, such as these brass buttons, cast by an external foundry. Each piece is singular, embedded in its history and its time, a collection of past memories and present moments. Each piece reveals a story. Zolaykha and Zarif artisans link the past, carrying ancestral traditions, with the future, reinventing and renewing.
A resilient textile arts workshop in the heart of Kabul
In 2005, Zarif, meaning “precious” in Dari (Afghan Persian) was born in Kabul. Ever since, Zolaykha Sherzad has been fighting to revive craftmanship in the sewing, fashion and art sectors.
She draws inspiration from the works and photography of Swiss ethnologists Roland and Sabrina Michaud, as well as from engravings and miniatures of Herat from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The artisans of Zarif Design weave the rich silk and the traditional striped cottons of the chapans that has become a Zarif company signature, representative of Afghanistan.
Zolaykha reflects creatively on art, heritage and tradition, reinterpreting modernity while preserving the spirituality of what comes out of the workshop to promote creation and empower women. She devotes special care to sourcing her silks and cottons in Afghanistan, from respectful artisans to whom she provides assistance when necessary. Based in Kabul, and traveling between Herat and Mazar-e Charif, Zolaykha is one of the only artists and business leaders to recognize that the entire sector must be supported to develop sustainable fashion. She follows each stage of production, from spinning and dyeing to weaving, and the patterns are designed in collaboration with the master weavers before reaching the workshop for exclusive production.
In today's Afghanistan, this is no simple matter. In such a precarious context, keeping the workshop alive requires cultural resistance and the struggle to preserve three values, essential to Zolaykha’s ethos:
1. Active support for women in two main ways. First, giving them autonomy and financial recognition. And its corollary: training and transmission. These perspectives, alongside the history of the Silk Road era, have helped Zolaykha Sherzad to forge an evolving philosophy with training at its core: high-quality training for the workshop's artisans, and also training specifically intended for women with a focus on sharing, in a special place that she opened in Kabul. This includes training for women who have endured conflicts or crisis situations that have forced them to leave everything behind and migrate to the capital, ending up in internal refugee camps. A recent training course in the Provençal quilting technique for young girls who were taken out of school by the Taliban gave rise to a short documentary in which their laughter, bitterness and hopes can be heard. Supporting Afghan women also involves celebrating them through artistic works, often monumental, such as these large chapans that pay tribute to women in their multiplicity (ethnic or personal), complexity, and unity, stretching their silhouettes like a link between heaven and earth (see iconography).
2. The defense of the status of social enterprise, which is practically non-existent in Kabul, and of a model that highlights the economic and emotional role of this community of craftsmen, of which one should be proud to belong. The company’s aim is not only to enhance the status of textile artisans both inside and outside the company, but also to offer women the flexibility to work from home when conditions require it. For Zolaykha, this means contributing to rebuild a broken cultural identity, encouraging a joyful sense of community, and restoring pride and recognition to craftsmen and craftswomen, as in the case of this training in tailoring provided to women, a profession traditionally reserved for men.
3. The struggle to preserve the richness of this Afghan heritage and the application of the "Slow Made" approach to reaffirm the values of time and collaboration. Every detail is meticulously cared for, such as these brass buttons, cast by an external foundry. Each piece is singular, embedded in its history and its time, a collection of past memories and present moments. Each piece reveals a story. Zolaykha and Zarif artisans link the past, carrying ancestral traditions, with the future, reinventing and renewing.