OMER ASIM
OMER ASIM & MAYA ANTOUN
Omer Asim is a Sudanese-born designer whose journey from architecture and psychoanalysis to clothing design embodies a rare synthesis of intellect and intuition. His garments resist the fleeting logic of fashion, instead unfolding as architectures for the body, minimal yet monumental, ascetic yet charged with silent power. Each piece feels like an artifact from a parallel history, a ritual garment that binds together memory, presence, and transcendence.
Alongside him, Maya Antoun, jewelry maker and co-founder, forges a universe in copper and metal. Her creations emerge from fire and hand, bearing the traces of transformation. Each jewel is less an ornament than a talisman, carrying the vibrations of the earth and the invisible resonance of ritual objects. Together, their practice blurs the line between clothing and sculpture, adornment and invocation, offering not just garments or jewels, but vessels of spirit.
For STUDIO RÖ, this duo holds a special place. They are not only long-time collaborators, but also the ones who clothe our founders, shaping the very image and aura of our house. Their work is a constant source of inspiration and devotion, a true coup de cœur, the kind of artistry that feels both personal and universal, intimate and liturgical.
Their dialogue now expands in collaboration with David Clarke for Studio Rö, converging around the ritual of Zār, where garment, copper, and silver become instruments of invocation.
Photo : Benjamin Juhel
IN CONVERSATION
Q : What is your earliest memory of fabric or clothing ?
A : Generally, fabric is a conduit of memory, culture, tradition and a medium to carry these with us in transience. The Toub – a single piece of fabric worn by Sudanese women wrapped and draped around the body holds particular significance and probably shapes our earliest memories.
Q : What role does spirituality or ritual play in your design practice ?
A : Making things by hand is a form of meditation. We are transitory individuals who have experienced flux, and turbulence. The process of reflection through making is a means of expressing emotion into form; and this is deeply healing..
Q : When you’re not creating clothes, what do you do to recharge? (hobbies, rituals, guilty pleasures)?
A : Tea is our ritual!
A mid afternoon nap is a guilty pleasure we are fond of.
Cooking and sharing meals with friends is definitely something we love and should do more!
Q : What is the most intimate object or jewel you’ve ever created, and what story does it carry ?
A : We are very cautious to not over make. There is so much already out there in the world. This approach of not over producing means we make everything in a very considered and deliberate manner. The garments and objects are mostly either one off pieces, or one of a very small run; always hand crafted from start to finish. This itself is an extremely intimate process of which we give something of ourselves into each conception
Q :Studio Rö is all about blending art, design, and spirituality , how do you see your work dialoguing with this vision ?
A : Through our work we articulate how we experience and make sense of our transient existence. We aim to facilitate a dialogue around contemporary cultural ideations in relation to media consumption, dress, mind and body. Our purpose is to create considered cultural projects to substantiate the brand’s proposition of its garments and objects as “Contemporary Cultural Artefacts”.
We have an interest in the value of garments and objects past their wearability. Our concern is with their significance as objects and talismans within their own right and facilitate their potential to hold their own value within the space they inhabit.
Q :What drew you to copper as your only medium, and what does this material mean to you personally ?
A : Copper conveys a form of freedom in relation to the conventional perception and the social constructs which exist around the idea of’ precious metals’.
Working with copper as opposed to gold or silver inverts the idea of value. It forces us to think about what value means in relation to the object. Choosing Copper as a material forces us to question our intentions. When making objects with a material that society needs but rejects as having little value gives the ritual of making the significance; and forces us to construct with intention as nothing can hide behind the social conventions of value hierarchy. This makes space for a more deliberate conversation and interaction.
Q :Soon, your creations will appear in dialogue with David Clarke’s sculptures through Studio Rö , how does the idea of your garments interacting with his work inspire or challenge you ?
A : David’s work challenges the norms in relation to how silversmithing is perceived conventionally. Our practice in particular sits restlessly between Fashion and Art and we relish exploring this space in collaboration with other creatives who are also blurring boundaries. We attempt through our work, to unlearn through process led making. Ultimately eroding existing conventions which do not serve us.
Within this collaboration we also see a connectivity at play between materiality, and the results that different ways of using resources are communicating with each other across different creative practices. The tenuous threads that are weaving us all together on one journey are of great interest to us.
Q :How does your Sudanese heritage influence your creations today ?
A : We are Sudanese, so, by default our cultural heritage and history seeps into what we create without us consciously provoking it. This influence is subconscious and unavoidable. We however do not seek for our creative practice to be singularly attributed to our Sudanese heritage, because our influences come from our own particular existence.
Q : Do you have a personal uniform or a “safety” piece you always return to ?
The AlaAllah (garment shown in image).
Q : What’s on your current playlist? Any sounds that move you when you work??
A : When in doubt we can always depend on Sade to get us into the right mood during a night working in the studio.
Q : Can you describe your creative process – from idea to finished piece ?
A : Our creative process is an ongoing conversation. The starting point can vary from a piece of fabric, or garment or object we have made previously that becomes a catalyst to explore its potential further. We have a strong interest in the practices of making, and the space prior to an objects completion. We explore elements of traditional making-techniques through conversation around ‘process; and what is discarded and/or concealed during the progression of making holds a very active space for us..
Q : Minimalism is at the heart of your creations. How do you translate silence, emptiness, or restraint into form ?
A : ‘The devil is in the detail’. The quiet unpretentious detail. Our creations are crafted to be felt and experienced in the silence of the wearing and the interaction with the objects.
Q : Copper has a living quality, it changes over time. How do you feel about this transformation in your pieces? ?
Curious. Especially about how it is perceived by the world around us. We see beauty in this transformation. There is nothing without change. All materials change over time. Copper however does it in a pushier way that forces you to pay attention. We see the results of how the material interacts when exposed to the elements. Copper clearly speaks of the vulnerability we all hold within nature. It shows you all the dents and marks left on it by its existence and exposure.
Q : What is one object, book, or artwork that deeply shaped your aesthetic??
A : ‘The Last Sound’ 1964. A painting by Sudanese Visionary Ibrahim El-Salahi.
Q : How do you imagine the future of clothing in a world that needs to slow down ?
A : With trepidation. We hope people will collect things they love and invest in objects that enrich their existence and not just buy erratically..
Q : If your clothes were a language, what would they whisper to the one wearing them ?
A : If our creations were a language they would speak about their timelines as contemporary cultural artefacts. The garments and objects speak to urban nomads that move quietly with articulate intent.
OA
Omer Asim, born in August 1978 in Khartoum, Sudan, is a London-based designer with a background in architecture and psychoanalysis.
Maya Antoun, a trained jeweler (notably at Central Saint Martins), has served since 2010 as co-creative director alongside Asim, while also developing projects to strengthen artisanal craftsmanship, particularly in Africa.
Together, Asim & Antoun combine sculptural clothing and talismanic jewelry, crafting a quiet aesthetic defined by thoughtful volumes, textures, and forms, which positions them as a singular duo in the contemporary fashion landscape.
THEIR FAVORITE RECIPE
MAYA’s BANANA BREAD
Listen up.
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Listen up. *
A poetic clash of silhouettes, sculptural forms, and ancestral echoes, this is the rhythm that flows through the studio of Omer Asim and Maya Antoun as they drape, carve, and transform fabric and copper. Each creation channels their playful rebellion against convention: bold, meditative, and unapologetically alive with the spirit of Sudan..