Happy to announce that Namai has been selected to be one of five makers to be ap art of the Madewell X Nest Makers Collective.
Madewell will feature a curated selection of Namai pieces for the next six months, helping us reach a wider audience. Nest has partnered with us and guided us through getting this all set up, as well as giving us mentorship, and access to their amazing community.
I’m not the best at celebrating the wins, I’m always thinking about the next mountain I want to climb! But I really want to take a minute to say tell you how happy and proud I am to be invited to be one of five incredible women owned brands taking part in this project. I'm sharing some of the process what you as part of the celebration, and you can see more about the other designers in the collective here.
The project got started with a photoshoot that Madewell gave us funding for. The idea was to show us at work in our studios, and I was lucky enough to have a friend and neighbour, Stephan Schacher, who is a worldclass photographer and captured the space so beautifully. It was my first time being part of a professional photo shoot (I've been part of many shoots for other people, but never one that was featuring me!) and though I was a little nervous, it was really fun seeing how my little studio came to life.
Next I decided what pieces to showcase on the Madewell site. I wanted the pieces to be accessible, and represent the best of what we do. I chose a mix of my favorite techniques and fabrics; Naksha Kantha, Tie Dye, Patchwork, and Ralli quilted bags.
Then we needed to wash all the pieces, check them over carefully and make any necessary repairs, and sew the labels on.
Once that was complete, it was off to the Madewell Studio, where they shot them on a model styled with Madewell clothing, and as still life. I was really happy with the way that the photos came out, and it was fun to see how they styled the pieces.
Uploading the styles onto the Madewell platform wasn't easy, but I had a lot of help from friends, and the amazing folks at Nest, an fantastic sustainable fashion initiative that I'm thrilled to be connected to. Now the final results are live on Madewell! I'm hoping that being part of the Makers Collective allows us to reach a wider audience across the US, and I'm excited to see how it goes!
I started Namai two years ago, and it still feels like a very young project; recognition like this means a lot to me and inspires me to continue creating new things.