Interview // Mai Zarkawi

Mai Zarkawi is a Jewelry DESIGNER\ARTIST and DANCER. She graduated from the Bezel academy for Art and Design in 2020 and has been exhibiting her artwork in many countries, also working in the jewellery field.

Her passion started from exploring the movement of her body, traveling in space and filling the void. She grew up in a small village and had an amazing childhood where she played in the back yard touching the soil, ran barefoot with friends; she felt the materials around her with all her senses.

“I grow up touching materials and moving with sweat searching for the child inside me, when i started studying jewellery i was always carrying my self as a child inside of me looking and absorbing to find my identity and myself.”





Where are you originally from and where are you based?


I am Palestinian living in Majd Al-kroum village in upper Galilie.



Most influential person in your life?


my father and my grandmother



Likes/dislikes?


dislikes- injustice, racism, occupation, eggplants
likes- movement, and coffee a lot, music, nature





Favorite cities? Why?


lately morocco is on the top of my favourites, it’s full of love and inspirations, the culture give you a lot of creativity for nothing.



Tried and true methods against creative block?


lately i have been facing a lot of block moments, so i do recommend a lot “the artist way” book for -Joulia Cameron, i have been doing the writing journey since a year, it helped me a lot.
also new materials give me a lot of inspirations.



What are your life essentials/ what do you carry with you all the time?


Phone, notebook, vitamin B12, ID.




“THIS BRAND ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO EFFORTLESSLY BE THEIR FREE, TRUE, CONSCIOUS SELVES WITHOUT FEELING DEFIANT ABOUT IT, BUT RATHER FEELING REAL AND CONNECTED.”

 Tell us about your brand?


My brand contrasting background in aesthetics, culture and identity helped shape my own language.
which convey especially the dominant idea of independence and self-expression​.
promoting non-conformist thinking, while celebrating the beauty in the raw, organic and asymmetric Shapes ,and preaching self-discovery.​
This brand encourages people to effortlessly be their free, true, conscious selves without feeling defiant about it, but rather feeling real and connected​.





What are some inspiration things, designs, artists, music, sites that you find yourself re-vistiting often? 


i find inspiration mostly in people, Characters.
because people made the art that we see in museums and in life, and for me i have the curiosity to know who’s behind the scene.
in the jewellery field i love Azza Fahmy egyptian artist, Einat leader, otto kunzli.
music  i adore Ibrahim maalouf and Faraj slieman.
i take a lot of inspirations from photography as well.



How do you feel about the need to be present in social media? Does it ruin creativity?


for me it’s all about balance and awareness, this topic have been very important to me, i hate to have addicting into something, so i try to keep space between my self and social media.
i do feel the need to be presented on social media and its amazing platform to know the artists in the world and we should be grateful that it does exist.





How can creativity be nurtured, what is the source of your creativity?


my inner child



Tell us about your work for the Curated.By exhibition.


Who is behind the veil?
My journey started trying to explore the tension, freedom, beauty, limitations and identity that unveiled in the niqab. I see the niqab as an identity in itself, between reality and borders. The veil is a social identity that shows religious, social and intellectual affiliation ... Through this project I tried to translate the dual existence and give space to explore and define identity.
The Face Jewelry collection allows a person to choose the identity in which he wants to appear in front of the outside world, so that the inner essence is not affected and he can coexist between two worlds.


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