Interview
Baziszt at Couverture
We sat down with Zied Ben Amor, founder of Baziszt, to talk craft, travel and the embroidery traditions behind the brand.
Founded in Paris in 2021, every Baziszt piece is hand-embroidered by artisans in India, Turkey and Peru, pairing techniques passed down over generations with a contemporary wardrobe of shirts, trousers, jackets and knitwear. Craftsmanship sits at the heart of the brand, built on patience, skill and the belief that clothing should carry the trace of the hands that made it.
Baziszt began with a single hand-embroidered shirt. What drew you to embroidery, and how did the rest of the collection follow?
I’ve always been a nostalgic person. I love flea markets, antique textiles, old photographs, and objects that have already lived a life. I remember being in a hotel in New Zealand and noticing these beautiful hand-embroidered cushions. They reminded me of the old household linens I used to see growing up. I started imagining what would happen if we took those traditional embroidery techniques and brought them into a contemporary wardrobe. That’s really how Baziszt started. With a shirt.
I was particularly drawn to embroidery because it carries something very human. You can see the time, the patience, and sometimes even the imperfections of the person who made it. I find that incredibly beautiful.
The rest of the collection developed quite naturally. First came the shirts, then trousers, jackets, knitwear, leather pieces, and accessories. I never wanted Baziszt to be just a shirt brand. I wanted to build an entire universe around that same feeling.
Many of your pieces pair a simple shape with a lot of detail. How do you know when to hold back and when to add more?
I think the secret is finding the right balance. I’m quite obsessed with details, but I also believe that a beautiful piece needs room to breathe. Sometimes a single embroidered flower on a very simple shirt can be more powerful than covering the entire garment with embroidery. Other times, I want to go completely crazy with textures, colours, beads, and different techniques. It’s very instinctive. I don’t really follow rules.
What matters to me is that the piece feels effortless, even when hundreds of hours of craftsmanship have gone into making it. I love that contrast between something that looks almost ordinary from a distance and becomes extraordinary when you get closer.
You come to the brand from different places, one of you from design and the other from years in Parisian fashion. How do you shape each other’s ideas, and what has each of you learnt from the other?
My background is quite unexpected for someone working in fashion. I studied applied mathematics and spent almost ten years working as a data engineer before creating Baziszt.
In many ways, coming from outside the fashion industry became one of my greatest strengths. I didn’t have all the traditional codes or preconceived ideas about how a fashion brand was supposed to work, so I approached it very instinctively. Of course, along the way I’ve been surrounded by people with very different experiences and perspectives, and I’ve learned enormously from those exchanges. But I’ve also learned to trust my own instincts and protect the creative freedom that made me start Baziszt in the first place.
Today, I think that combination of structure and intuition defines the way I work. There is a very analytical side to me, but when it comes to creating, I’m driven much more by emotion, curiosity, travel, memories and encounters. That’s probably what makes Baziszt feel so personal to me.
Baziszt pieces are crafted in India, Turkey and Peru, where the skills involved have been passed down over generations. How did you first come to work with these artisans?
Craftsmanship was never something I wanted to add to Baziszt afterwards. It was the starting point. When I began developing the first collection, I knew I wanted to work with people who had a genuine understanding of traditional embroidery techniques. India was a natural starting point because of its extraordinary textile heritage and the incredible diversity of its craftsmanship. Over time, we developed relationships with artisans and workshops, and those relationships became a very important part of the brand.
We later expanded our work to Turkey and Peru, particularly for knitwear and beautiful natural fibres such as baby alpaca. I travel a lot to meet the people who make our clothes. For me, it’s essential to understand their techniques, their environment, and the materials they work with. I also love the exchange of ideas. Sometimes I arrive with a very precise design, and the artisans suggest a technique or a detail that completely transforms it. That’s when the magic happens.
I don’t see craftsmanship as simply executing a design. It’s a conversation between different cultures, different generations, and different ways of seeing beauty.
Your pieces seem made for travelling, for warm evenings and long trips. Was that always the idea, or have your customers shaped this direction?
I think it was always there, even if I didn’t necessarily realise it at the beginning.
I grew up in Tunisia, surrounded by Mediterranean light, colours, and landscapes. That atmosphere has stayed with me. I’ve also always loved travelling. There’s something about discovering a new place, walking through a market, meeting people, or simply sitting somewhere watching life happen that inspires me enormously. I wanted to create clothes that belong to those moments. A shirt you can wear barefoot by the sea, but also to dinner in Paris. Something comfortable, beautiful, and a little unexpected.
Our customers have definitely embraced that spirit, and it’s fascinating to see how they interpret the pieces. But I don’t want Baziszt to be limited to holiday dressing. For me, it’s more about a state of mind. That feeling of freedom you have when you’re travelling, when you’re curious, open, and enjoying life. I’d love people to carry a little bit of that feeling with them wherever they are.
Baziszt started in menswear, but many women wear it now too. Did you expect that, and what do you love about seeing it?
Actually, it happened almost immediately! We originally designed Baziszt for men because I felt there was something missing in menswear. I wanted to create clothes that were expressive, romantic, colourful, and a little more daring. But very quickly, women started buying our shirts too. And I absolutely loved it.
There’s something incredibly beautiful about seeing the same piece worn by a man in his twenties, a woman in her fifties, or someone much older, and having it look completely different on each person. I’ve never really believed that creativity should be restricted by gender. Our collaboration with Sézane was a particularly exciting moment because it gave us the opportunity to explore that relationship with womenswear even further.
What I love most is when someone takes a piece we’ve created and makes it entirely their own. That’s when fashion becomes personal.
Because everything is made by hand, no two pieces are quite the same. When someone takes a Baziszt piece home, what do you hope they notice when they look closely?
The imperfections! I know that might sound strange, but they’re often my favourite part. A slightly irregular stitch, a flower that’s not perfectly symmetrical, a tiny variation in the colour or texture. Those details remind you that a human being made this piece.
We’re living in a world where everything is becoming increasingly automated, standardised, and almost too perfect. I find something very moving about an object that still carries the trace of someone’s hand. I hope people take the time to look closely at our embroidery and discover details they hadn’t noticed before. And perhaps, years later, they’ll still find something new in that same piece.
I also love the idea that our clothes might eventually become someone else’s vintage treasures. Something they keep, repair, pass on, or rediscover many years from now. For me, that’s a beautiful definition of sustainability.
What’s next for Baziszt, and is there anything coming up that you’re particularly looking forward to?
So many things! Baziszt has grown incredibly quickly, and sometimes I still find it surreal to see how far we’ve come from that very first embroidered shirt. What’s exciting now is that we’re building a much bigger universe while trying to preserve the intimacy and authenticity that made the brand special in the first place. We’re continuing to explore new materials, new craftsmanship techniques, and new categories.
I’m particularly excited about our Spring/Summer 2027 collection, La Traversée, which is inspired by a journey across the Mediterranean. It’s a very personal collection, exploring the relationship between travel, memory, craftsmanship, and the landscapes of the Mediterranean. There are beautiful references to traditional textiles, the colours of the sea, and the extraordinary cultural connections between different shores.
We’re also expanding internationally, which is incredibly exciting, especially when I see people discovering Baziszt in places I never imagined we would reach. But beyond growth, what really excites me is the creative freedom to keep experimenting. I don’t want Baziszt to become predictable. I want people to feel that every collection brings a new story, a new discovery, something they haven’t seen before. And most importantly, I want to keep having fun doing it. Because that’s why I started Baziszt in the first place.
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