WHO WE ARE

A House of Memory, Ritual, and Modern Elegance

Znabu is an interdisciplinary studio where textiles become talismans, where beauty is treated as devotion, and where heritage is translated into contemporary form. We create living textiles, pieces that move between body and home, each one carrying presence, emotion, and quiet ancestral power. These are not accessories. They are soft artifacts for lives lived with intention.

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Storytelling Through Pattern & Color

Every Znabu edition is conceived as a small act of remembrance. A gesture toward lineage. A meditation on the sacred intelligence of the hand. Rooted in African cultural memory and the poetry of material, our textiles offer more than adornment, they offer atmosphere, belonging, and a return to the self. Whether worn over the shoulders or placed gently within the home, each piece carries a pulse of meaning and an invitation to live with beauty that restores.

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MEET ZAINAB

Zainab Sumu is a contemporary artist based in Cambridge, MA. Originally from Sierra Leone, her work operates at the intersection of art, anthropology, and cultural identity, celebrating the resilience and heritage of African cultures. Through woven fiber sculptures, textiles, paintings and now prints, she employs intertextuality, layering references from music, architecture, and symbolic traditions like the Sande mask and basket-making techniques—to create works that bridge past and present. Sumu graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design’s Fashion and Textiles Program in Boston, MA. Prior to that, she ran an eponymous boutique featuring the work of Junya Watanabe, Azzedine Alaia and Martin Margiela, among other bespoke brands in Los Angeles, CA. Her boutique was written up in the LA Times, Elle, Vogue, W Magazine, and elsewhere. Since graduating from Mass Art, her 2022 solo show at Gurari Collections (Boston) was reviewed by Cate McQuaid for the Boston Globe. She has led workshops at Snow Farm (Williamsburg, MA), and presented at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, North Bennet Street School (Boston), and Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA) through invited programming. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston), The ‘Quin House (Boston) and private collections. The Government of Sierra Leone supported her Residency in Freetown from Nov 2023 to May 2024.

 

For all inquiries please contact studio@studioznabu.com