Bokja Design Collective

Shared around the fireplace or whispered in passing ears, stories and how we tell them are always changing. They are broken up, embellished, hotly debated or squashed as “mindless gossip”, evidence that storytelling remains central to human experience. For Beirut-born creative duo Huda Baroudi and Maria Hibri, the nonlinearity of storytelling is woven — quite literally — into their design outlet, Bokja. A regional word, referring to a ‘bundle’ or the piece of fabric that would be used to wrap a bride’s dowry, a Bokja bears the embroidery from different female members of the family, embodying a fusion of heritage and craft and operates in the tangible gaps between stories and generations. 

Extending their tapestry as a collective, Bokja is hosting a London pop-up until the end of March this year in Notting Hill, a neighbourhood that revels in its invaluable variety. Offering an immersive experience, Bokja is inviting engagement with their studio and textile installations. Functional, decorative, to wear or to live amongst, the pop-up represents the brand’s approach to everyday items made with considered artisanal curation. For Huda and Maria, Bokja’s initiative is as much of a tapestry as the creations that it produces. Literally and metaphorically speaking, Bokja is touched by many hands and woven with many threads. Bringing together artisans and creatives from over ten different countries, the brand is guided by collaboration and at its heart is a borderless approach to how we craft textiles, art and of course, stories. Co-founder Maria described the duo’s methods as “democracy by design”. Blending fine materials with cheaper fabrics and enmeshing techniques to create a beautiful amalgamation of ‘high-low’ creative processes, each Bokja piece begins as a bid to create in the most democratic, accessible way possible. 

It would be easy to look at a Bokja piece and simply revel in its visual artistry, but for Maria and Huda, textiles become more of a dialogue. Discussing their lives and the instability they faced growing up in Beirut, Huda states, “A lot of what we create works as a vessel to enable us to express those heavy things.”  While acknowledging the difficulties of growing up amidst a tumultuous political and cultural sphere, it’s clear that the Bokja collective takes it in its stride. “This country is very challenging but I tell [Huda] sometimes, if we lived in Sweden, what would we talk about?” jokes Maria.

Citing London’s “irreverence, humour and the out-of-the-box thinking” the duo have settled nicely into their Notting Hill pop-up in their first fully-fledged initiative in the city. Nestled in a neighbourhood that thrives off of its democratic pooling of cultures and artistic disciplines, the Bokja pop-up will run until the end of March. After setting up shop in the depths of winter and opening until spring, the event will welcome guests and the brightening colours, harking back to Bokja’s embrace of transformation through textile and artistry. Open now at 85 Ledbury Road, step into Huda and Maria’s woven world to lighten your grey winter days with a bit of Beirut technicolour. 

Explore their world and craft here.