Diana’s journey spans continents, from growing up in Baghdad to her formative time in the United States and now living in London. Her life story, like the beautiful stitches she weaves, is threaded with resilience, adaptability, and a passion for Football, her “sanctuary”—a unifying force in a childhood marked by constant movement and upheaval. It was a language that spoke to her across borders, and one she has chosen to amplify through her art.

Her cultural heritage and personal memories find their way onto each shirt she embroiders. Her work not only honors the symbols and stories of the countries and clubs she focuses on but also reflects her belief that, within the unity of football fandom, there is space for personal self-expression.

With every thread, Diana brings a new dimension to football—a testament to how the game can be both universally beloved and deeply personal. Her work is an invitation to explore football not just as a sport but as an art form, a canvas for memory, and a celebration of belonging.

Where’s your personal connection to football coming from?  And what inspired you to start reinventing football shirts through the art of embroidery?

I was born in Baghdad, Iraq but my family and I moved to Egypt in 2005 due to the war. Then we moved to America in 2010 and I lived there for 9 years before moving to London in 2019. My childhood had some good parts and also very chaotic ones due to living close to a war and not feeling safe. From a young age, football was a great escape and distraction for me. My earliest football memory was probably stealing my brother’s football shirts and wearing them around the house or forcing him (more like crying to my mum) to bring me along with him to play football with his friends. When it became too dangerous for us as children to play outside, we would watch cartoons at home. Captain Tsubasa from Holly & Benji was my favorite – and in a way, my gateway to the world of football. 

Because I had to move to different countries in my childhood and formative teen years, I struggled a lot with the concept of identity. What drew me to football shirts the most was the sense of identity that they bring and seeing one group of fans wearing one kit reinforces that. The reason I decided to customize and embellish them was to showcase that within groups, people have their own identities and individualities as well. There is space in football for all kinds of sub-groups and various identities can coexist.

Are there any cultural elements or personal symbols that you integrate into your embroidered football shirts?

Definitely, my creative process differs for every project. It always involves a lot of research around the specific shirt and the country it is from. Whether that’s researching the traditional and common flowers that are native to that region or the original colors that a club wore when they first formed. I think it’s very important to pay homage to cultural elements and pay attention to the small details. I think it shows a lot of respect and appreciation.

How do you choose which teams, players, or football cultures to focus on in your designs?

In any scenario, whether working with a brand/club or my own personal projects, I try to choose interesting shirts/colors that can challenge me and push me to come out of my comfort zone and experiment with designs and palettes that are unexpected. There’s no specific formula for choosing the shirts I work with.

Your recent collaborations with Adidas and Puma are receiving a lot of attention. Can you tell us more about how these collaborations came about? And what has been the most exciting or surprising part of working with such global sports brands?

Partnering with brands recently has been an incredible opportunity to experiment with different techniques and creative processes as well as establish professional relationships. My collaboration with Puma in 2020 was aimed to pay tribute to Italian culture. Puma asked me to create one-off fashion-inspired versions of their Italy 20/21 home, away and third renaissance themed shirts. My main aim of the project was to focus on elements of Italian renaissance in terms of its emphasis on symmetry, natural forms and creating eye movement through the floral designs. I love the concept of wearable art from different elements and incorporating them on football jerseys. My recent collaboration with Adidas was during this past summer and focused around 2 events: the 2024 Men’s Euro Cup and the opening of the new Adidas flagship store in Paris, in collaboration with Jules Kounde.

For my Euro Cup collaboration with Adidas London, I was asked to embroider 5 home & away jerseys of nations participating in the 2024 Euros as well as design various accessories within the collection. The shirts were displayed at the London flagship store during the Cup and the accompanying accessories were sold there as well. I created embroidery on the Germany away jersey, Italy home jersey, Spain away jersey, Scotland home jersey and the Belgium away jersey; I also designed key chains, pin badges and iron-on patches inspired by the 5 nations.

Whilst my latest collaboration with Jules Kounde was born out of his love of my work and wanting to work together on something meaningful and interesting. We wanted to create a shirt for the summer that combines his background (France) and current journey (Spain). Therefore, I designed a white lily (flower symbol of France) on the left side and a red carnation (flower symbol of Spain) on the right side. I wanted the shirt to mimic the feeling of laying on the grass among colorful wildflowers on a summer’s day – so I have added a selection of wild flowers in various colors and sizes throughout. The shirt is printed with Kounde’s Barcelona number ‘23’ on the front and back and there’s a sleeve patch with the number ‘98’, his birth year and a very historic year for French football as well. After a chat with him, we decided to add the phrase ‘be you, do you’ on the back of the shirt, just below the collar. That phrase means a lot for both him and I, and it’s a great reminder to always be true to yourself and trust your vision. I personally embroidered 100 pieces to be sold exclusively in-store at the Adidas flagship store in Paris, on the Champs-Élysées on 22nd June.

Where do you see the future of sportswear and art colliding? 

Sportswear and Art meet in various ways, influencing and inspiring each other. Thus, unfolding in an exciting fusion, where personal expression, technology and sustainability lead the way. Cultural narratives are taking the spotlight, too. We’re seeing jerseys and jackets reflecting heritage and artistic motifs, that people can connect with and wear proudly. It’s a way for sportswear to feel more meaningful – bridging personal identity with performance. Technological advances are also making this union more exciting and innovative. Imagine scanning your jersey to unlock an animation or story behind the design. This adds a digital, interactive layer to something as simple as a jacket or shirt. Sustainability is reshaping sportswear as well. We see brands using recycled or biodegradable materials to minimize environmental impact, and this aligns with a larger movement toward responsible fashion, making sure that art and ethics go hand in hand. Plus collaborations with artists are creating collectable, limited-edition pieces that feel more like art than mass-produced gear.

Altogether, this intersection of sportswear and art is making clothing a medium for storytelling, self-expression, and connection – empowering athletes and fans to celebrate culture and identity in entirely new and innovative ways.