Rezia Wahid MBE, (Bengali: রেজিয়া ওয়াহিদ; born 1976) is an award-winning British textile artist of Bangladeshi origin. Her work has been exhibited both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Early life

Rezia Wahid was born in Bangladesh and arrived to the United Kingdom at the age of five.

Wahid attended the Chelsea College of Art and Design 1994-1995 and was awarded a first class degree from Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College|Surrey Institute of Art and Design] in 1998.^[1]

Career

Textiles

Wahid’s work mainly consists of inter-cultural threads, from her English upbringing and spiritual Islamic influences using the Bangladeshi technique. Her work was mainly influenced through the discovery of a fabric native to Bangladesh known as Baf-thana, which means woven air, and studied the thread to develop her fabrics known as “woven air.”^[2]

Wahid was one of the three artists to be selected by the South West Arts Council to create a piece celebrating the cultural diversity of Britain.^[2] In 2005, Wahid was awarded an MBE, for contribution to arts in London. ^[2]

Teaching

Wahid has also taught at Warwick School for Boys as the Art, Design and Textiles teacher and now at Frederick Bremer School Specialist Engineering College (an amalagation of Warwick School for Boys and Aveling Park School) as well as a form tutor. She has a soft approach to things whether textiles or school related.^[2]

Personal experience

“I was in Rezia’s tutor class in my first three years of secondary school. She had helped me throughout the first years, but sadly, due to a bigger interest in another subject, I could not further my textiles studies with her. During my first year, I had a bad temper, and along with many other teachers, she helped me get over this, even standing up to me in my violent rage”. - Daniel Hurry, Warwick School for Boys, 2001-2006.