SWAY is to move from side to side, to sway between research and design, to sway between the facts of the past and to become the future. Sway is about power, about influence, about guidance. Sway is to refresh and replenish, a renewed opportunity. Sway is neither here nor there; sway is in between the philosopher, the scientist, and the craftsman. Sway is the internode, the space where magic occurs, the space so often overlooked. Sway is the depth.

Studio Sway is a design studio with a strong focus on research through design. Although managed solely by its founder Shaakira Jassat, the nature of the work at Sway is such that it may call on experts from respective fields when necessary, depending on the design brief, thus making it multidisciplinary.

Shaakira was born and raised in South Africa and now lives in the Netherlands. Her previous profession in the architecture/interior field, together with her upbringing in a young democracy plays a role in informing her work. In her latest projects she focuses on ecological resources, architecture, food and society, following an intensive drought in Cape Town between 2015 and 2018.

Her research methods range from being on and off field all the way to multidisciplinary experimental research. She uses the tools design offers her to express her passion for the way the world functions and how we all behave in it. She believes that design should function as a form of social engagement and it is up to designers to alter the status quo.

Shaakira secured a B.Sc. in Interior Architecture at the University of Pretoria – South Africa, and later moved abroad to further studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. She now lives and works in the Netherlands.