Najla El Zein

Najla El Zein was born in Beirut in 1983.[1][2] She was raised in Paris, where she moved at the age of two.[3] She studied interior architecture and product design at the École Camondo school of art in Paris.[4]

In 2019 El Zein was commissioned by the Qatar Museums Authority to design Us, Her, Him, a limestone sculpture located in Flag Plaza[5][6][7] which was completed in 2022.[8] Also in 2019, El Zein staged her first solo show, Transitions, at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York.[9][10] The title of the exhibition and the pieces she created were inspired by her experience of the "emotional and physical transformation" of pregnancy.[11][12][13]

Following the 2020 Beirut explosion, El Zein produced a series of sculptural pieces titled 6.07, the name being a reference to the time of the blast. The proceeds from the sale of the pieces were donated to a local NGO called Beb w’ Shebbek.[14][15]

Her work has been exhibited at and acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum,[3] London, and the Dallas Museum of Art, TX. In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth at Chatsworth House, curated by Glenn Adamson.[16][17][18][19]

She has studios in Amsterdam and Beirut.[3][16][20][21]

• Official site