Sadiya A. Nadeem

Saudi Gazette

Painting rejuvenates her mind, body and soul. It gives her inner peace, a sense of happiness, and an opportunity to escape from the chaotic rush of everyday life.



“Painting for me is like meditation in the sense that it allows me to find and lose myself at the same time. It is me escaping without actually escaping. It allows me to feel freedom or release negative energy on a bad day — always leaving me content,” said designer Sarya Jamal.



In the state of pure tranquility, Jamal paints, not on canvas as one might presume, but on chairs.



Discovery and debut of art



Jamal discovered her passion for painting while she was pregnant with her daughter. To keep herself occupied, she made a white and black table using black ink only.



“I was so pleasantly surprised with everyone’s reaction to it. It suddenly became the focal point of my living room. That was the very first ‘Piece of Me,” said Jamal, adding “there was no turning back then,” and she was determined to take it to the next level.



Jamal launched her debut collection titled “Pieces of Me” — comprising seven chairs named Predators, Ink on Pink, Two Faced, Remix, XnY, Insider, and Bambar — at the Art Visionary Exhibition held at Tashkeil.



Bursting with shades of bright or pastel colors, exotic fabrics and intricate patterns, chairs designed and painted by Jamal brought life and culture to a room.



The young and charming designer received phenomenal response for her work from artists and art lovers at the exhibition, selling four out of seven pieces.



“The response to ‘Pieces of Me’ was very positive at the exhibition and on social media. It definitely gave me a lot more confidence, and a push to actually start my own brand,” she said, crediting CEO of Tashkeil Sofana Dahlan for bringing her into the creative limelight.



“I have received orders on the remaining pieces but with different colors or fabric. Some clients wanted me to make two of the same chair,” said Jamal.



Turning chairs into contemporary art



The highly detail designed and intricately painted chairs come with a high price tag. “The reason I charge it in the range I do is because I want people to recognize these pieces as contemporary art rather than furniture,” Jamal said.



She added: “This is why I chose to exhibit them in art galleries rather than furniture shops.”



The creative designer also revealed that the high cost of the chair is also based on the number of hours spent on meticulously planning, designing and painting each piece.



Jamal spends a minimum of 12 hours on a chair, and those with finer details can take over 40 hours to complete.



Believing that art is meant to be appreciated by all, thus, in future Jamal plans to widen her range and make available her creations to all classes.



“I definitely plan on widening my range of products so that everyone can afford a ‘piece of me.’  Two different lines, kind of like Toyota and Lexus is what I have in mind, InshAllah, for the future,” she said.



Love for wood



Jamal has a fascination for wood. She not only uses different kinds of wood from Egypt, Sudan, and Indonesia to make the basics of the chairs, but enjoys painting on them too.



“I used to paint on canvas with acrylic before I switched to oil paints, and I ditched the canvas for wooden surfaces after falling in love with its rawness and ability to absorb paint quickly, allowing me to create overlapping layers. These little details are what take all the time but are necessary since they make all the difference,” said the Sudanese artist.



One of her future plans is also to design and paint other types of furniture and home accessories, but seating will always be her focus. “It’s the only furniture (wooden canvas) that will allow me to incorporate fabric, fashion and texture with my painting.”



Inspiration from life



The patterns on Jamal’s unique one-off original chairs are inspired by rich African heritage, nature and colors of life — tears and laughter, marriage and divorce, life and death, good and bad and so on.



Jamal, who describes herself as a shy, emotional and sensitive person, said: “The yin yang summarizes the fact that there is good in bad and vice versa. I find myself constantly reminding myself of this by incorporating it in my work against bright colors inspired from everything back at home in Africa. I also find inspiration in nature. God has created so much art. I truly believe that any color mixed on a palette is already existent somewhere in this world. I like to use patterns He has already created in nature, like stripes on a watermelon or zebra, the spots/scales on a fish, texture of an alligators back, print on a peacocks feather, pattern made by seeds in the stomach of a kiwi, among many others. Art in nature is endless and this is something that will always keep me inspired and wondering.”



Jamal is also impressed with the works of Dolce & Gabbana and Salvador Dali. She loves how “Dolce & Gabbana go “bold and daring with both prints and fabric,” and feels different about some of Dali’s creations.



“I always feel something observing his work and that is exactly what art is supposed to do. It should move you. That is inspirational to me,” she said.



Art and science



A pharmacist by profession, Jamal graduated with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan.



Drawing a comparison between art and pharmacy, Jamal said: “Art and science are branches of knowledge that can be used together to produce ingenious solutions to complex problems. History has shown many examples of artists, like Leonardo Da Vinci who blended science with art to advance our understanding of anatomy, architecture, physiology, physics and much more.”



She added: “My first collection of furniture from ‘Pieces of Me’ represent my journey in art and science in the way that my endeavors in both fields saw me seated on different chairs.”