Born in Peshawar, Pakistan, Meherunnisa Asad is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer with an innate fascination for nature and its relationship with human experience. Her work attempts to perpetuate the legacy of the applied arts by infusing it with subtle minimalism, creating a contemporary aesthetic that resonates with the traditional techniques of Pietra Dura that she employs. From an early age Asad was surrounded by art- the fabled bazaars of the historic city of Peshawar were a few kilometers away and many an afternoon was spent rummaging through antique shops with her mother and siblings. These childhood experiences piqued her interest in traditional art forms which was further crystalized through her position as conservation architect at the prestigious Aga Khan Historic Cities program. Meherunnisa Asad has carried Studio Lél, the artistic collective that her mother Farhana founded three decades ago in her garage, to an internationally acclaimed studio that has exhibited at major shows including the London Design Biennale, Design Miami, Milan Design Week, London Design Fair, Sharjah Art Week, Dubai Design Week and featured in leading art & design publications such as Financial Times, Asia Society, Vogue, Elle Decoration, Architectural Digest and Harper’s Bazaar. In 2019, she was awarded a grant by the Gates Foundation.