1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

I was born in Ankawa, a small town in the northern part of Iraq.
Currently living in Eskilstuna, Sweden.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

My first memory connected to art is when I was maybe 5-6 years old and found my
fathers portrait sketches in graphite hand made by him, hidden in our storage room.
This is where it all started for me. And I have been drawing and loving creative
pursuits ever since and it has been a big part of not only my life but my sisters also.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

I am trained design engineer and worked as an engineer after I realized that I
wanted to work more creatively and started over again and studied at Beckmans
college of design in Stockholm and soon after started my own design studio.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

I have always loved being creative and creating art at a very young age. It all started
with me designing and making furniture for my first apartment. Realized shortly after
that this was what I wanted to do.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

Throughout my process, I have a certain feeling of serene emotion and aesthetic
expression that I try to convey with my design. I keep in mind a certain environment,
space, or interpretation that my objects will inhabit, that sets the mood before I start
my work.
But the inspiration for a project differs, everything from culture, geometrical ply of a
brutalist architecture, a great read or just a feeling of a certain conversation can
stimulate my creative thoughts.

The first step is typically always allowing myself to express my idea or a certain form
in many elaborate hand-drawn sketches to test and see the form taking shape and
evolving.

— Further on in the process is searching for the essence of the object, where I look
closely at the volumes and the first step of how it should be constructed. To test the
volumes of an object more accurately in terms of dimensions, I use 3D software and
this is where I get to experiment with the volumes in different layouts.

— When I finally feel that the object represents the feeling I want to convey, I move
on to making the first 1:1 scale prototype. This is where I get to see the volume in
real life and can interact with it and make the necessary changes.

It sounds linear when I describe the process but it’s far from it, all the steps are
interconnected and I go back and forth several times to achieve my vision. I am very
motivated by curiosity and I tend to be more driven by seeing an object or project to
its completion when I don’t know what the outcome will be — which allows me to be
more experimental and where I see myself more courageous in terms of freeing
myself of my predictions.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

It all depends day to day. One day it could be working on an order throughout the
day. Another day I can be doing some administrative work and design an interior with
my sister Sinar Alexis who is also a designer. Every day is different depending if it’s a
new project or new design I am working with or handling orders.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

I aim to create objects that display a sense of stillness and strong character through
mostly natural materials, mostly different types of wood, to bridge the bond between
man and nature and often base my idea on which material I will use.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

With the natural materials handcrafted naturally various in texture, tones and
imperfections. This allows for uniqueness in every livable object created and to age
gracefully with time.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

First of all, don’t be afraid to start and start making mistakes. Mistakes and rejections
are crucial to success. Work harder and be consistent with your work. Strive to
improve with time and stay true to yourself and the work you do.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

DIfficult for me to say, I would leave it to the observer to decide.
I am working more and more towards combining Brutalist esthetics and contextual
inspiration from the rich cultural and architectural heritage of ancient Mesopotamia.
So maybe contemporary ethno-graphic.

11. What designers have influenced you ?

Obviously goes without mentioning Rick Owens, the design philosophy of Claudio
Silvestrin & John Pawson, Donald Judd, Halleröds, Carlo Scarpa are some of them
and there are many more.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

I appreciate and get inspired by artists like Carl Andre, Vincent Van Duysen, Doriana
and Massimiliano Fuksas, Formafantasma

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Yohji Yamamoto, jil sander, tezontle studio

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

Livable objects for the soul.

15. Is there anything you would like to add ?

Move slow and allow yourself to dream.

Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)