About

My working background is in the fashion industry. I graduated in the late 90's with a Master's Degree in Fashion Womenswear from The Royal College of Art, London. 

Looking back at it now, my graduate collection was more unusual than I think I realized at the time, and in many ways quite visionary.

My collection was actually ridiculing the fashion business and the facile consumerism at its core. It was a statement against the fashion system that had become so like the supermarket industry, that is shamelessly and loudly selling “more for free”.

​Making parallels with the food industry and its supersizing approach I used bold food packaging-style graphics on garments like:
'NEW IMPROVED' for new fashion arrivals, '33% EXTRA FREE' for the lengths of the skirts that are changing every season, or 'BEST BEFORE 06.06.1997' for the limited time of seasonal colours and styles.

Straight out of college I began designing for big fashion luxury houses in Italy.

Ironically, this collection was my entry ticket into the Luxury Fashion world. Straight out of college I began designing for big fashion luxury houses like Dolce & Gabbana and John Richmond, designing high-end womenswear, denim, kids-wear and all kinds of accessories, and for the next 10 years I worked closely with the creative directors of these businesses.

​I suppose I was lucky to get all this design experience, and certainly working across so many areas within the fashion industry has given me a deep understanding of this business and its systems.

And as a designer, as I felt that, fundamentally, the core of all design should be problem solving, not problem making. 

However, the more I witnessed of what lay behind the glamorous curtain of fashion, the more I saw a completely different picture. ​I saw an industry that was a major contributor to global air and water pollution, obscene wastage, and human and animal exploitation – and that was just the tip of the unethical iceberg.

​It also seemed to me that as a designer, being the starting part of that chain, I too was responsible for creating more mess and more damage. I had become part of the crazy consumerist system that I had ridiculed years before, and it did not feel good.

2010 was the turning point for me where I would either turn away from fashion and products altogether, or to find a new, mindful, path that might also lead to a different destination.

I felt I still wanted to create, but create thoughtfully and with transformation in mind. Surrounded by the abundance of the western world, I felt the world didn’t need yet another fashion brand churning out endless short life-span clothes. 

​But of course, making less damage is not quite enough, and not a solution in itself. And as a designer, as I felt that, fundamentally, the core of all design should be problem solving, not problem making. 

The presented products might not seem a cohesive collection of pieces. But there is one thing they have in common - they make sense.

Over the following ten years I had become increasingly interested in ideas around ethical responsibility within the fashion industry, and studied the issues of sustainability, and the circular economy. And, with all this in mind I began my own search for simple solutions to complex problems that accompany consumerism in our society. 

​One thing that stood out in my research was the benefits of keeping things as local as possible, and another part involved the benefits of creating more inclusive products.
​
I have committed to operate a socially fair and sustainable business, with products that offer durable and smart design in a slow season manner, and with a steady focus on daily functionality. As an instinctive and subtle observer of everyday life, I am doing my best to passionately deliver niche products that are designed and made to be used and loved for a long time. 

The products that will come to you from my site might not seem a cohesive collection of pieces. But there is one thing they have in common - they make sense. They are all trying to fix a certain problem or at least be a more responsible choice, and to contribute towards a green and ethical future.

Darja Malesic