29/10/2026
Asaf Irshai is an interdisciplinary designer based in Tel Aviv. He studied Industrial Design at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) in Switzerland. His research-driven practice explores the relationship between design, culture, and symbolic exchange, using narrative to investigate disciplinary boundaries and the interplay between theory and practice.
Fashion, as a powerful communicative and semiotic medium, is a cultural phenomenon of the highest order. It serves as a visible index of social transformation, cultural values, and historical change. In Irshai’s work, design’s symbolic power is combined with detailed technical research, reflecting the aestheticisation of our environment through science and technology. This synthesis of aesthetic vision, material innovation, and technical experimentation forms the foundation of Irshai’s distinctive design language.
His project The Water Seller proposes a clothing system designed for survival in desert environments. Drawing on Frank Herbert’s Dune and cultural studies of desert life, the project explores endurance and adaptation through material research, textile construction, and functional cuts. Combining practical responses to heat and movement with references to rituals, beliefs, and environmental conditions, the garments function as both protective layers and symbolic interfaces between the body and its surroundings.
Asaf Irshai Photographer Shira Houminer