ABOUT
It's 7th-grade art class, and the topic of the month is surrealism. The assignment: Each student must recreate a surrealist painting of the teacher's choosing. The one I got to recreate: 'Sunrise by the Ocean' by Vladimir Kush. And ever since then, I've been hooked.
Sunrise by the Ocean - crayon studying surrealism piece by 7th grade me!
Sunrise by the Ocean - Vladimir Kush
Hi, I'm Zina,
Here’s the quick chronology of how I got here:
I studied Architectural Design at Parsons in New York, where I honed my visual language, design principles, aesthetic sensibility and shaped what I now consider my creative manifesto.
After university, I worked in exhibition design: crafting spaces for stories that were already written. It was a formative experience. I learned from history, culture, and narrative structure, but I found myself more drawn to the fictitious, the emotional, the what if.
I’ve always been captivated by holiday windows, fashion shows, and film sets, entire worlds built for a moment. Worlds born from imagination, yet rooted in something intangible…
Around that time, “storytelling” became the buzzword in branding. But for me, it was already personal. I began studying how brands build emotion - how they choreograph desire - and found the Master’s in Luxury Brand Management in Milan at Istituto Marangoni that aligned with what I wanted: to ground my ideas in the codes, rituals, and rhythm of the luxury world.
Today, I run my own studio between Dubai and Amman, working with personal brands, cultural projects, and global agencies.
I create visuals, objects, concepts, and campaigns that live across both digital and physical space. Some are quiet, cinematic, and minimal. Others are loud, layered, and rooted in narrative.
Whether subtle or surreal, the work is always driven by :
to dream while we are awake.
FEATURED IN:
Pantone: Visualizing What Doesn’t Exist Yet
https://connect.pantone.com/#/color-insider/visualizing-what-doesnt-exist-yet
Designboom: Retrofitted Cave in Wadi Rum
Designboom: Dr Drakken Photorealized 60’s Inspired Spaces
Parsons School of Design Archived Projects: Chromatower
https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/profile/zina-ibrahim/chromatower/
Parsons School of Design Archived Projects: Urban Fabric
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