Growing up with Palestinian background and influences, I’ve always been surrounded and fascinated by elaborately detailed Middle Eastern Fabrics. Specifically, the intricate Palestinian embroidery designs with distinct patterns identifying each village, passed down mother-to-daughter from generation to generation. My mother and grandmother taught me to embroider, but I can only use so many embroidered throw pillows!

Then in college, a friend introduced me to the art of drawing with henna, which is often done for happy occasions – weddings, festivals, and so forth. Sadly these beautiful drawings and designs begin to fade after a few days; however, I fell in love with this medium which allowed me to draw upon those beautiful Palestinian fabric details to create something new. The combination of those loves has inspired my love affair with metal clay, and led me to develop a henna-inspired method of coning metal clay to create incredibly detailed designs, casting them into a more permanent form.

Find Lema Bashir-Boulghassoul online here and on Facebook here.