Victoria Brunton speaks with Ayham Hassan, the award-winning Palestinian designer who crowdfunded his way from the West Bank to Central Saint Martins.
After debuting his graduate collection in London, fashion designer Ayham Hassan quickly found himself and his work in the pages of Vogue, Dazed, i-D, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Most recently, he was named the 2025 recipient of the BFC x NET-A-PORTER & MR PORTER Education Fund – that’s when I began my quest to secure an interview with the Palestinian creative and, eventually, the stars aligned.
When I finally speak to Hassan, there’s a striking charm about him — the kind that seems only someone who has triumphed over adversity can carry.
"London is absolutely insane," he laughs softly, reflecting on the chaos inflicted upon us by transport strikes that morning, "but I’m glad we can finally speak."
Hassan grew up in Ramallah, in the West Bank of Palestine, and speaks of his childhood with a disarming warmth, given the context.
"I had a very lovely childhood," he says. "I don’t remember anything harsh about it at first… but I was born into occupation. You don’t understand it as a child — it’s just your reality. It only started to get really dark when I became a teenager and realised what that really meant."
One of these realisations, he points out, was being completely isolated from the global fashion industry.
"I got my first Vogue magazine as a gift from a friend when I was 18 or 19," he recalls. "I didn’t have access to things like that growing up. But weddings, music videos, pop divas from Lebanon and Egypt — they were my fashion education."
Even something as simple as how people dressed at checkpoints, he notes, could carry "power or harm."
That early awareness of life under military occupation shaped Hassan — both as a person, and as a designer.
"People in Palestine are so passionate," he says. "Passionate about being sad, about being happy, about being angry. It’s normal to us. Western fashion felt so restrained to me at first — it took me a while to understand and appreciate it."
Crowdfunding to Central Saint Martins
Hassan’s path to London’s most prestigious fashion school makes for the narrative of a motion picture.
"It was my dream to study at Central Saint Martins," he says. "I thought, I’m not losing anything — let me apply."
With encouragement from his mentor, Omar Joseph Nasser Khoury, and a portfolio that impressed the admissions team, he secured a place. The bigger challenge was affording it.
"I struggled financially… it was extremely expensive. Even for Londoners, it's expensive," he admits. A crowdfunding campaign changed everything. "It was picked up by Dazed and went viral. I was fully funded overnight. Then the British Council and other sponsors supported me. That’s how I made it here."
He acknowledges how rare his story is: "It’s not common at all," he states. "It also shows how elitist the education system is; they promote diversity, but it’s still not accessible. That needs to change."
Craft as a form of resistance
Heritage is not a nostalgic motif in Hassan’s work; it is the central focus in all his creations.
"Growing up in Palestine makes you think completely differently," he explains. "It’s an incredible place — there’s a resilience and power that comes from facing those kinds of situations that cannot be manufactured."
His inspirations are eclectic yet intimate: "I get inspired by history, by what’s in the news, by what happens to my family, my loved ones. It could be a newspaper article or a TV show — anything that affects me."
Much of his work draws directly on, or reimagines, Palestinian craft techniques, such as printmaking, hand embroidery, leather work and laser engraving.
"The craftsmanship, the power of what fashion actually means — that’s why people like McQueen inspired me," he says. "They had a different idea of beauty. That’s what I want: to celebrate what’s ours, what could be erased."
The Capsule: Together For Palestine
His latest project — a merchandise capsule designed to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Gaza — borrows motifs from Hassan’s graduate work, which explored the threatened heritage crafts of Gaza and Majdal.
"It’s inspired by these bullet-shaped flower motifs and necklaces women used to embroider for spiritual protection," he explains. "They embroidered them where the garment leaves the body, and where the body leaves the garment. I love the idea that magenta could be a colour of resilience — the colour of Gaza, for me."
He speaks of craft as a form of resistance. "Genocide doesn’t just kill people — it erases history, culture, art, expression, dreams. When you kill a person, you kill everything they could have passed on. These crafts are disappearing. That’s why I have to archive, protect and reimagine them."
A shared legacy of resistance
For Hassan, fashion is not neutral – and it should never be. "Everything is political," he says firmly. "You can’t eliminate parts of reality because they’re scary. Even reaching a material in Palestine could be a political act. Fashion is undeniably part of that."
When we speak, it is clear that the Irish people's solidarity with Palestine has moved him deeply.
"It means the world," he says. "When I first came to London, I felt like a minority for the first time. I couldn’t talk about these things easily. Now, meeting so many Irish people who are super supportive — it makes you feel like you’re not alone."
"It’s the same British people who occupied Ireland and who occupied Palestine and made it ready for Israel," he continues. "It’s the same concept, the same mentality, just in a different context. When a Palestinian sees someone wearing a keffiyeh in the street, it means the world."
That, ultimately, is what he hopes people feel when they wear his work:
"Strength and connection. Because fashion is about people. It’s about saying: you are seen, and you are not alone."
Together For Palestine will take place at OVO Wembley Arena on 17 September. Tickets are sold out, but you can find more information at togetherforpalestine.org.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
