Years ago, I made a deal for silk fabrics with Rossana Orlandi. I then first presented at her upstairs in the old tie factory where her fabulous company is located. On this floor was the old stock of countless rolls of delicate fabric that was sitting around doing nothing. I thought of buying them, so that the space would then be freed up to use as a shop or just to rent out. Since Rossana buys a lot from us, we just swapped. I came up with the cushion bench first, then the tie lamps, and we also sell the fabrics separately. All together, we have already used hundreds of metres, but the stock remains almost endless. The other day I was with Steef in Marseille at “Maison Empereur,” a great old shop where they also had house brand simple cotton dressing gowns. We bought one because we thought we could also have such a dressing gown made in silk.
I thought it would be best to have it done in Indonesia. I can remember through a holiday in Bali at the Vossen, that Roderick always has his blouses made in Indonesia. Marico and Quinta still have a lot made in Indonesia (we are all friends of each other). After some research, Marico calls me to say that we’d better have it made in Turkey, because sending fabric back and forth to Indonesia -because of bureaucratic concerns- is almost impossible and Turkey is within the EU!
Immediately, Quinta exclaims that she thinks it would be a fun project to do together. But Quinta loves beauty and luxury and thinks that since our stuff is not very cheap either, we should just make really nice nightgowns. With a friend who knows about fabrics, she comes over to look at the stock. She tells them that a kimono is actually much nicer and more suitable to make from the fabrics and they take a few rolls right away.
Soon after, we meet again. Quinta, meanwhile, has already had her first kimono made in a small workshop in the Netherlands. I look at it and I think I like it, but otherwise have no idea, as I never think about clothes.
Fortunately, the ladies of the shop are there and I ask if they want to try them on. They are happy to do so and without any reluctance, the next customer is helped to the checkout while wearing the kimonos. Everyone was immediately very excited. So it must be good!
The unique thing about the kimonos is actually that the fabrics are combined per kimono and there will only be one long and one short version of each. So the fabrics are always changed and each kimono is unique!
Besides the designs for the kimonos themselves and the selection of fabrics for each kimono, Quinta also thought and worked on labels, packaging and presentation.
We have never been this professional before!
During DDW, Quinta and Luka will be in the space at the fabrics near Tweek with the first 75 exclusively individually Dutch-produced and numbered kimonos. They will be offered at a reduced rate as a try-out.
This post is also available in: NL
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