about

Hawa Stwodah is an Afghan-American designer and educator based in the United States. She emigrated from Kabul with her family and grew up in central Virginia. She received a BFA in Fashion Design and a MFA in Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her career has spanned many sectors within the fashion industry, including apparel and textile design, product development, technical design and production, as well as retail buying and education.  She has worked in the United States and the Gulf, collaborating on research and development with companies in Europe and Asia. She consults on experimental design solutions using innovative textiles and materials for menswear, women’s sportswear/activewear, healthcare providers and a series of entrepreneurial endeavors for infant accessories. After working in the private sector for a period of time she returned to VCU’s Fashion Design + Merchandising Department and has been a part of the faculty since 2005.

Stwodah’s aesthetic is influenced heavily by traditional textile and fiber art techniques, the notion of layers: layers of materials as well as meaning applied to non-conventional mediums. Her work has been exhibited and presented nationally and internationally. Her ongoing research explores identity, social behaviors and visual communication through the lens of surface design.  As member of the Afghan diaspora and a Muslim woman living in the Global North she maneuvers the design spaces and places she inhabits. She investigates ideas of visibility- both physical and metaphorical- perception, and the sartorial self.