Rahim
Walizada

Rahim Walizada, is a major leader of a new movement in Afghanistan that seeks to bring folkloric craft tradition into the realm of high and contemporary art. He comes from three generations of craftsmen and antique dealers. A profound intimacy with the history and nature of different materials is the essential feature of his eclectic work that, with remarkable ease, ranges from carpet and furniture design to architecture.

AFGHAN
Tradition

Afghanistan has been a cultural and commercial hub, a cradle of artistic, musical, religious and economic exchanges along the route of the Silk Road that has connected East and West for centuries. Words, objects, ideas, and beliefs travelled, mingled, and morphed leaving on the country an everlasting mark. Much has been lost, but the seeds of that great culture have been preserved by artists and craftsmen like Rahim Walizada.

DARULAMAN
house

Darulaman House is a visual adventure.
Rahim conceived, designed and built Darulaman House in West Kabul in its entirety. It is an intricate palace that combines a variety of different styles. Walizada invites those who cross its gates to a journey around the world of craft in a unique blend of Afghan tradition and cosmopolitanism; The house is in reality the castle of a fairytale: it is the result of many years of work and transformations, it is a wealth of details and timeless beauty.

Kabul
afghanistan

Oh, the beautiful city of Kabul
wears a rugged mountain skirt,
And the rose is jealous of its lash-like thorns.

Saib-e-Tabrizi

Kabul is the beating heart of Afghanistan. Legendarily founded by Cain and Abel, it is an ancient city with amazing history, nested high in the Hindu Kush mountains.
Kabul was repeatedly fought over by great empires and religions and was never a secure throne for any of them. It was first ruled by Persians, later taken over by Greeks, and in the centuries that followed, Kabul became a Buddhist city, Hindu under the Indians and finally Muslim with the Arab expansion from the east. The city is an ancient crossroad where different people, goods, ideas and cultures meet and mingle. Even though decades of war have had a dramatic impact on its history, Kabul has managed to retain its unique and diverse culture.