preview

AJOY SAHU
Amber Johnson spoke to Ajoy Sahu
INTERVIEW
during their LFW presentation to
discover the inspiration behind their
latest shoe collection.
LR: Hello! It's so lovely to meet you,
thank you for having me. So what was
the inspiration behind the collection
and the whole show?
Ajoy Sahu: Actually, the whole brand is
based on the poppies. [The fitting and
construction] are all inspired by the
poppy seeds, you know, the seeds inside
the poppy pod when they dry out. And
when you see the construction shape,
it's kind of like a poppy silhouette with
the seed in it. So this is how we start
designing the shoe construction. With
the kitten heels, we always try to keep
the seeds shape and also in the flat. And
then slowly we evolve the whole
collection into more fluid line ideas. So,
it's based on the original construction to
evolve into all different types of fluid
lines to make very interesting patterns
on the foot. Then we got all these very
special custom made fittings. The poppy
seeds are the most important for our
brand. We’re kind of trying to keep the
whole brand's identity into the
construction, the same concepts.
Hopefully, in the future with the brand
in the market a lot more, even though
people don't know our name, they can
still recognise the shape.
LR: You need that element that stands
out that makes you different from
everyone else, that when you see that
you say "That's that brand!'.
Ajoy Sahu: Yeah, so this is the DNA and
also very unique for the brand.
LR: Did you have any difficulties during
the design process of the whole
collection?
Which really stressed me out. And also
the factory finished, like, a week before,
because we made everything in China.
And I have a production team in China
to help to control the development and
the production. And of course, because
of COVID, I can't really go back to China.
So I have to do limitless video meetings.
I get up really early every day to work
with China time. So, to just really push
the whole collection, because normally,
during the development period, I'll be in
China to develop the whole collection
with the team. Because of COVID I
didn't go back for two years. We really
broke through lots of challenges.
LR: But it makes it all worth it though?
Ajoy Sahu: Yeah. And luckily, we found
a really cool New York showroom to
represent the brand worldwide as well.
So it's really cool. I'm really excited.
LR: Was there anything that you would
have changed or would have done
differently with the collection? Or are
you happy with the outcome?
Ajoy Sahu: I'm really happy with the
outcome. But of course, if I can be there
to develop the production, it would be
really great.
LR: I think it's the perfectionist, you
want to be able to see every single
element of the design and the
construction.
Ajoy Sahu: ...and feel the material and
choose the materials as well.
Ajoy Sahu: Yes, definitely. Because it's
during COVID. So actually, all the
collections just arrived yesterday.