NASO interviews: Najla Zein
On Carving Narratives in Stone, Glass, and Time
"The pieces came to life with the visitors, they came alive through their presence. For me as an artist, that is the greatest reward."
On Origins & Early Influences
Born in Lebanon but raised in Paris from the age of two, Najla Zein has long navigated the complexities of displacement and belonging. "Paris is my adopted city," she reflects. Her childhood was marked by the duality of growing up amidst the elegance of French culture while retaining strong ties to Beirut, where her family would return regularly. She recalls accompanying her mother to the Puces de Saint-Ouen, Paris's famed flea market, where an eye for beauty and craftsmanship was quietly nurtured.
From an early age, Zein displayed what she describes as a "hypersensitivity" to her environment. She was an observer— absorbing the chaotic energy of her outspoken Middle Eastern family while quietly sketching and experimenting in art classes her mother encouraged her to attend. "It was almost a meditative experience," she says of those first creative gestures. "I could just disconnect completely and do that."
On Paris, Rotterdam & Beirut
After completing her studies in Paris, Zein moved to Rotterdam in 2008, a city she describes as a "transitionary space." She was drawn to its resilience and vitality, noting its similarities to Beirut—both cities rebuilt after destruction. Her work there leaned toward the conceptual, collaborating with think tanks and embracing what she calls "a tabula rasa from Paris, just to connect more with myself."
Yet it was her eventual move to Beirut in 2011 that proved transformative. "This is when I realized how important discovering my roots was, not only on a personal level but also on a professional one," she explains. For Zein, life and practice are inseparable- each feeding the other.
On the Artist's Sensibility
Zein insists her path into art was not linear. Rather than a sudden decision, it was a gradual unveiling of her own nature. "My practice found me and I found myself in my practice," she notes. Her attraction to narratives and objects is deeply rooted in an almost anthropological sensitivity—an interest in stories hidden in the ordinary.
Her first significant work, The Spoon Lamp, emerged from a fascination with the humble spoon—its form, reflection, and symbolic resonance. This tendency to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary would become a hallmark of her practice. "I wanted to bring it to a form or to a scale that would make you realize the powerful beauty behind such a simple object," she explains.
On Material Dialogues
If her earliest works were about found objects, stone became her enduring partner. Initially adopted to contrast with other rudimentary materials in her sensorial brush series, it soon revealed itself as a language in its own right. "I was really surprised by stone - I felt an immediate connection to it", she recalls. Stone, for her, became less a medium than a collaborator, one that demanded patience, reduction, and dialogue.
Glass, by contrast, arrived later and with resistance. Expecting to work with it as she did stone, Zein found herself humbled by its volatility. "Glass is a stubborn material," she admits. "You need to learn how to dance with it, to be in dialogue with it." The process was chaotic, even adversarial, until one day-working with her team of glassblowers in a quiet, almost sacred atmosphere-the material revealed its fluidity. That moment, she says, marked a turning point: "The sculptures became so organic. There was no tension in them, they were just fluid."
More recently, ceramics have entered her practice, offering yet another way to "think through the hands" and sketch ideas with immediacy. "Ceramic is becoming a material I'm really falling for," she confides.
On Process
Zein describes her creative process as one rooted in spontaneity and overproduction. She begins with miniature clay models-sketches in three dimensions-before refining and enlarging them. "I really think through my hands in a way which is very spontaneous and not planned in advance," she says. From dozens of small experiments, a few emerge that feel essential, leading her toward larger works.
For her, the process itself is inseparable from the outcome. "The final expression is not just from what I created as a model - it becomes what it is because of the experience of its creation."
On Public Space & Collective Work
Among her most significant projects is the monumental installation Us, Her, Him (Nahnu, Hiya, Huwa) in Doha, commissioned by Qatar Museums, in collaboration with Friedman Benda gallery. Installed in 2022 at the Flag Plaza, the work comprises more than 300 meters of sculptural stone benches—at once functional and symbolic.
Zein saw the commission as an immense responsibility. "I really considered this work as a contribution to the city, and to the generations who will encounter it after us," she explains. The benches, varied in form, suggest interactions between personalities: shy, confident, interlacing. They are, she says, about "the very essence of public space, what it means to share it and to be present, to connect with one another.
Created in Lebanon during the financial crisis, the port explosion, and the pandemic, the project became more than a commission—it became a form of collective resilience for Zein and her craftsmen. This commission revealed to me the importance of making, and of the bond forged through our shared experience in bringing it to life. From the circumstances of its creation to the work itself, and from the scale of the project to the act of working by hand, our experience became embedded in the work. It showed me the beauty of making, and how that experience can transmit into the pieces, into the city, and, hopefully, across generations, she recalls.
The reward came when she saw hundreds of people-families, children, strangers-embracing, sliding on, and inhabiting the benches. "The pieces came to life with the visitors, they came alive through their presence. For me as an artist, that is the greatest reward."
On Looking Forward
Today, Zein continues to expand her material vocabulary. She is working on another large-scale public commission in stone, a new series in ceramic, and her first collaboration in carpets with the London-based initiative Ishkar, which works with artisans in Afghanistan. For her, the appeal lies as much in the process as in the final object: "Process is as important as the final work. Once you see that, you begin to grasp the depth of the pieces."
As she looks toward the future, Zein emphasizes patience, context, and meaning over speed. "Time gives you experience; it allows you to reflect", she says. In her hands, art remains less a finished product than an unfolding conversation— between material, maker, and community.