Ala Mairi: A cross-cultural twist

[Fatima Mahmood]

I often get asked how I come up with Ala Mairi’s innovative and unique designs. And I always give the same answer: it’s all down to our cross-cultural design process.

I started Ala Mairi with a vision to combine the intricate embroidery skills of Pakistan’s craftswomen with the traditional hand-looming weaving, an art integral to Scottish history and heritage.

The creation of each Ala Mairi garment begins with the inspiration I find around me-whether its Shetland’s breath-taking sunsets or Pakistan’s vibrant culture, I love the design development process with hand loom weavers in Scotland, discussing yarn, colours, motifs and weave techniques and sampling process.

I enjoy these collaborative approaches as I do not believe one person should take ownership of the design – it should be a dynamic flow of idea exchanging. After we have finalised our selection process our very talented artisans begin the creation process and weave the yarns in beautiful fabrics and weaves- a true work of art!

The woven fabrics are then taken with me to Pakistan where skilled hand dyers intricately dip dye and tie dye silks to achieve matching colour shades and embroiders turn them into our unique garments. This is where a connection is born between two people from opposite ends of the world – the fusion of two cultures through the power of craftsmanship and a passion for art. This is also a particularly special aspect of the production process as I get to work closely with each of our artisans. We go through several selections of sampling to find the right technique of crochet, embroidery, motif placement and colour in order to give each garment its unique flair.

 

It is the fusion of a diverse range of cultures in the collection which is crucial to Ala Mairi’s originality and creativity. Each garment is accompanied by a label which takes the buyer on a journey through the production process, including information about the artisans involved in its production and about the ethically sourced materials used in its creation. Our intricate and cross-cultural approach to the creation of each garment is what makes Ala Mairi’s collections so innovative and unique and I look forward to every stage!