www.womanthismonth.com December 2021 63 PEOPLE | interview “At our studio we aim to celebrate all that is handmade and natural in any way we can. This is through the fibers we use, dyes we integrate, and ways in which we make our designs. We aim to give garments a soul that they seem to have lost over time,” she says with poise. “We often work with natural fabrics, and create our own textiles with weavers around the world. Including our talented weavers here in Bahrain. I draw inspiration from a myriad of sources, but if I had to pick one maybe the past – history,” she adds. In an interesting turn of events, Hala Kaiksow’s latest collection, AlHajr, was created during the pandemic. “Amidst our studio quarantine we had to each create our parts individually and have our tailor put everything together. With this collection I really wanted to push the bounds of garment making so the entire collection is created by hand. No machines were used, which means it took hundreds of hours of work to put together but I think it came together nicely,” she explains. The brand is notably an exhibitor at the Bahrain Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai which is drawing worldwide attention. “We got the opportunity to collaborate with the Bahrain Pavilion to create the garments that were worn by the exhibitors of the space meaning the volunteers, as well as the cafe staff. As a Bahraini designer, being able to share my craft at an event of this magnitude has been an amazing opportunity that is incredibly humbling,” she says modestly. “We wanted to create a collection that spoke to the space and fit into it, as everyone entering the pavilion would see them instantly,” she explains. The structure of the Bahrain pavilion consists of 126 metal columns which support each other and the roof – a poetic nod to the concept of connectivity. “Hence, we also created our textiles accordingly to reflect the architecture of the pavilion, even managing to weave metal into them,” says the designer who doesn’t shy away from innovation. “We are busy working on a few projects now and are excited to reveal them next year!” concludes Ms. Kaiksow.
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