Zaha Hadid: “If there are 360 degrees, why stick to one?”

An insatiable curiosity, a desire for independence and a lifelong absence of ties led her to experiment with the limits of the linear and to adopt dislocated forms that would mark a before and after in her career. We are talking about Zaha Hadid, who — as well as being a woman who knew exactly what she wanted — was able, as an architect, to conceive a world of her own, cut to the measure of her imagination.

Robust creations in concrete that seemed to float like feathers blown into the air, carrying that duality of a strong, decisive temperament alternating with the delicate, ethereal character of volatile structures escaping the ground.

Glazed walls, melted structures, twisted materials, perfect perspectives that only nature is capable of replicating, restless atmospheres and serpentine lines. Thanks to Zaha, a place was redefined not as somewhere to pass through but as a destination in itself.

Her particular grasp of space gradually built what would become her signature. She never settled for any one angle, least of all ninety degrees. “If there are 360 degrees, why stick to one?”, she used to say. Zaha sought discomfort; she challenged what was established. And that flight was exactly what transmitted the freedom she brought to a space. Straight lines blurred and gave way to impossible curves that produced fluid, moving, unlocked settings, at once solid and molten to the touch. Hadid rose as fast as the towers she built, becoming one of the most recognised contemporary architects. The proof is in the works that belong to her like fingerprints and already form part of her legacy.

And from Zaha’s art of dressing cities to Iskin Sisters’ art of dressing women around the world, with a vision as personal as it is timeless. Just as the Iraqi-British architect did, Iskin puts materials and the configuration of space at the centre of the brand. The pieces are solid in essence and light in the hand. The versatility and the dance of their forms underline the personality of whoever wears them. They draw on their surroundings to create new worlds, which they then fold into the jewellery, so that whoever puts a piece on feels it not as something added to the body but as an extension of it.

And like the ideas that define who we are and complete us, Iskin Sisters shares with Zaha Hadid that spirit of living in search of landscapes still to be explored and conquered — not to pass through them, but to stay.

Photographs of Zaha Hadid’s buildings are not reproduced here, as the rights belong to their photographers. Her work can be seen on the Zaha Hadid Architects site.