Young Swiss designer launches spring collection

Islamabad : Simple cuts, soft designs, soothing colors and smooth silk fabric – all are packaged into the spring collection of young designer Kyinat Motla exhibited on Saturday.

Despite the rain and cold weather, the inaugural one-day exhibition on Saturday, with the brand name Paaru, was well attended. “This is the first time I am exhibiting my collection. It took me two years to design these shirts and finally bring my products in the market,” said the young and energetic entrepreneur.

Kyinat is a Swiss Pakistani designer graduated from Parsons, New York. Her Spring 2019 collection presents fine silk fabric with hand embroidery and prints which were originally paintings created by her. “As a child, I grew up in Geneva. I was the only Muslim girl in my class and it was always a struggle to mingle up with my class mates. For me, painting was my medium of expression at that time. I never knew that it will become my career,” she said.

After completing her degree, Kyinat shifted to Pakistan and started working on her brand. “While I was studying art, I decided to come back to Pakistan to start my business with an intension to contribute in Pakistan’s brand industry and benefit the people linked with this industry in my own country,” answered Kyinat when asked about the reason behind launching her brand in Pakistan instead of Switzerland.

Kyinat told The News that the inaugural exhibition would be the only exhibition for now. “I plan to organize the next one in Geneva. I plan to continue organizing one-day exhibitions for the first two years and will start online venture after that,” she said adding that she will expand her business after learning the market trends.

Regarding the challenges, she faced in launching her brand, she said that she received encouragement from everywhere-be it family or friends. “It was like a family affair. My father did the photo shoot and my mother modeled for some of my cloths,” she said while answering a question regarding her family’s reaction on establishing her business in Pakistan.

The most challenging thing for the young entrepreneur was to communicate her design ideas to the workers. “It was difficult to make then understand the designs. They always tried to convince me to stick to the existing trends and resisted trying new ideas.”

Kyinat had the same advice for young designers aspiring to join the market. “My only tip for young designers is to experiment with new things. We have variety of fabric and Pakistani as well as global market is open for new ideas. I have received tremendous response for prints which are actually my paintings. I believe that creativity always makes its place,” she said.