Life in Detail

« Painting from nature is not copying the object, it's realising one's sensations. ― Paul Cezanne »

The story begins with a girl born and raised in Manchester, UK. She grew up always appreciating the hidden detail and intricacies of life that surround us. She would often find beauty in the most simple things and as a perfectionist, found comfort in symmetries and order. However, she had no idea that this passion for life could be expressed creatively until later on. ​ Before finding art, she was trying to pursue a career in science. She was attending university studying genetics and physiology when she began to realise that this life wasn't for her. They say that nothing is more soul destroying than when you are on the wrong path in life and as she tried to push past the doubt and uneasiness, it began to take its toll. ​ The anxiety took over. Scared of being trapped in a life she didn't want whilst being unsure of what her true calling was caused her life to spiral out of control. She suffered from panic attacks frequently, developed insomnia and even started being unable to leave the house. This was definitely rock bottom. ​ One particularly difficult night, she sat down to doodle. Her messy, tangled mind spilled out onto the paper in the form of scribbles and swirls. She found herself feeling calm and fell asleep a lot easier than usual. It then became a routine that she would draw twenty minutes every night to ease some of the symptoms of her anxiety. ​ Eventually these doodles evolved and remembering her different passions in life, became more controlled, more detailed and more colourful. They forced her to stop and look around, to appreciate the light amongst the dark in order to be inspired and allow her artwork to grow. As her style and skills progressed, she began taking inspiration from her heritage and middle eastern architecture and design as well as the beautifully intricate pattern-work often seen in Persian rugs. She wanted to capture that level of impact and create stunning, modern pieces of artwork for the home. ​ For the first time she had a real dream that she wanted to pursue. As more and more people became intrigued by her story and her artwork, she decided to take this more seriously and began her journey on social media. She wanted to reach more people, willing her art to help others the way it had helped her. Before she knew it, people were sending her messages with stories similar to her own as well as sharing how they were now using art therapy to help them too. ​ After several months of this, she finally had the courage to leave university and take the risk to pursue a full time career in art. While she started using her own name as her brand, she realised that this was bigger than herself. She wanted to create a brand that was personal, relatable and reminded people that even during bad times, there are beautiful details all around us that we should stop and enjoy. Life in Detail represents how every day, even the bad ones, are necessary to create the beautiful bigger picture. We will all arrive at our destination some day - what a shame it would be to forget to enjoy the journey. ​ My name is Zai and I say live Life in Detail.