Art&Culture;

Rahim Walizada and Chuk Palu would like to take you on a visual and cross-cultural adventure infused with revived Afganistan’s traditional art.

Rahim Walizada invites those who cross its gates to a journey around the world craft in a unique blend of Afghan tradition and cosmopolitanism; a journey between past and future where the flavor of ancient mixes with a minimalist contemporary touch. The houses Rahim builds are in reality the castle of a fairytale: they are a result of years of explorations and transformations, immersed in a wealth of details and timeless beauty.

Rahim relishes in this quest and he often likes to say: “I create things that make me happy.”

Rahim revives almost extinct styles and techniques, combining them with an eclectic approach to design. He travelled far and wide across Afghanistan to find the old artisans who would still be able to produce various crafts in the traditional way. Not without pride, Rahim recalls the first encounter with the old master in a remote mountain village to whom he commissioned the panels. “The old man told me: ‘Are you really sure? I’ve never seen anything like it!’ He was so surprised. He couldn’t believe I really wanted to make these strange designs.”

An intimate knowledge of materials and a visionary approach to design are his creative weapons.

“I take inspiration from my travels and sometimes from books. Everywhere I go I steal. Then I come back to Kabul and transform it in my own way. Everything here is Afghan, all the materials, all the designs and even the nails: only the electric wires I import from China”.

Rahim’s journey across the styles of world craft continues. We invite you to join us.

Rahim’ s artistic taste and the idea of reviving Afghanistan ‘ s art of building and tradition like hand made arches, mud lays, stone work, bricks work.

“Rahim Walizada [is] an artist and designer for whom the attainment of beauty embodies both the reason and the necessity for producing art. Walizada comes from three generations of craftspersons and antique dealers. An appreciation of the nature of materials is inherent to his outlook on the world. His work acquires its form and substance from beyond, or despite, war. His carpets (exhibited at the 2005 Venice Biennale), fabrics, designs for houses, hotels and restaurants, majolicas and interiors are all “completely Afghan”, from their conception to the labour used to make or build them. According to Walizada, the only things he has to import are the electric wires. His work is a reflection based on a search for beauty in the possible confluences of past and present.