Our Practice
Lazo Studios, is an art, design, and wood crafting atelier based in London. Drawing on decades of experience steeped in centuries of tradition, we focus on creating intricate artworks and artisan woodwork with contemporary expressions. With a playful approach to innovation, we combine curiosity and the tendency to explore with a reliance on our intuition and experience. Nurturing a strong connection to our cultural heritage, while building connections to other places and cultures, is an integral part of our practice. We draw inspiration from eclectic sources and deliver bespoke solutions.
Lazo Studios creates handcrafted original works that are made to order. Our bespoke services provide unique and personal designs tailored to each client or a specific occasion. Please get in touch if you would like to collaborate or discuss a commission.
The Partners
Naseer Yasna (Mansouri) is a master artisan in woodwork, a designer and an educator. He was born in Panjshir, Afghanistan and raised in Iran. At the age of fourteen Naseer became apprenticed to an Iraqi master carver in Tehran. It was there that he learned the precision, sense of design, and scrupulous attention to detail which is integral to his approach. Shortly after returning to Afghanistan at the age of twenty eight, Naseer joined Turquoise Mountain – a charity dedicated to preserving traditional crafts – as a master artisan and teacher. After several years, he went on to establish his own business in Kabul, employing a large number of young Afghan craftsmen and women, many of whom were his own students. Drawing on the rich heritage of Afghan and Islamic design, Naseer has worked on many prestigious projects both in Afghanistan and internationally.
Hedieh Wojgani is a trained architect, artist and a designer with a nomadic background straddling several cultures and places. Born in Iran and raised in Germany, she trained as an architect and fine artist at the Rhode Island School of Design. Subsequently, Hedieh worked at various architectural design firms in Boston, New York, and Berlin before moving to London to continue her studies at UCL. She then pursued multidisciplinary research projects at various universities in the UK before relocating to Kabul in 2010 to join Turquoise Mountain, first as an architect and later as the director of business development and creative director. For the better part of the past decade Hedieh worked with various artisans from Central and West Asia, managing production workshops, providing them with design and technical input as well as training to help improve the quality of their craft.
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Our Mission
In our work we seek to present a positive image of the rich and sophisticated cultures we originate from. Fusing time-honoured practices with contemporary designs, we create beautiful handcrafted pieces that are vessels for human stories and evoke a sense of connection between cultures and places. We are passionate about craftsmanship; it is at the heart of everything we do. By creating beautiful pieces with enduring materials and stories, we hope these works become life-long companions to be passed down from generation to generation.
Our Values
Our approach to work is similar to our approach to life: deeply rooted, yet open to new ideas. As humans we are multifaceted like prisms. In a connected world, the more we explore, the more discerning we become and the richer the colours of the prism become. This beauty is what we endeavour to reflect in our work. We place a particular importance on creativity and playfulness, while reserving a special place for authenticity and integrity. We regard our work as a response to the throwaway society.
If you would like to talk to us about commissioning a bespoke piece then please get in touch. We'd love to work with you.