Ema Koja is not just in the fashion business. Her work is about color, line, and composition: it's expressly wearable art, and without limitations. Where there could be plain lace, there's delicate appliqué, and where there are painted swirls, blooms, and buds.
Ema Koja
In a recent interview with Glance Magazine, Ema had the following to say in regards to questions that were asked...
Q: What is your design inspiration?
A: What intrigues and inspires me the most is creating textures and artworks that I haven’t been seen before. The other very exciting and challenging part is applying this art to the human shape, making sure it enhances and beautifies it. The final stage is very inspiring as well, that is before the photo shoot when we are marrying all the elements together and coming up with the big picture.
Q: Did you go to your prom?
A: Yes, I did. I made my own dress. It was a fifties inspired dress, white and black, below knee. I for sure would not wear it today, but it was a big hit for my prom. I am sure that dress was worn in a couple of other proms with my cousins.
Q: If you could pick the ideal setting for one of your dresses to be worn, where would it be?
A: Any event where you wish to be noticed!
Q: How did you know you wanted to become a fashion designer?
A: I never thought about becoming a designer. I wanted to be a great athlete and a great coach later on. After I got injured, I had a year’s time to rethink what I was going to do with my career. I decided to do the next best thing I knew how to do, making clothes. My personal intuition and destiny pushed me in this direction. It must have been the right one, because once I made this decision everything conspired for it to happen and it still does.
Q: Who is your favorite celebrity to work with?
A: Not sure, I never thought about it. I don’t know much about celebrities, because I don’t watch TV. I am sure that if I was more informed, there are many beautiful, talented people I would be very happy to design for.
Oprah maybe, if I met her, I will be inspired in creating something very special to fit her personality. Katy Perry is the latest celeb that we have seen wearing our dresses; she is beautiful. I would love to design a special dress for her.
Eliza Dushku could be another celeb I like to dress, because she is Albanian and beautiful.
Q: Who is your ideal customer?
A: Our girl is smart, healthy, and beautiful. She likes to think out of the box and has the courage and confidence to wear our garments and handle the attention. This girl embraces her femininity and can be seducing, but she is very aware of herself and knows what she wants well.
Q: What is the hardest part of managing your own fashion company? The best part?
A: Being a smaller company, I end up wearing many hats. The part I can do without is managing the business. The best part is designing the collection, doing the photo shoots… everything that has to do with right brain activity.
Q: What do you see are the fashion trends going forward?
A: Having attended Art Basel in Miami last month, I found the trend of nature and technology mixed together, very unique and worthy of being explored. Lately I find myself attracted to the game the light plays on different surfaces. I am experimenting with glowing and shimmering silicon and paint, trying to translate this art trend into a collection. I also am very curious to see what will come out of it.
Q: Can you talk about your process of creating garments based on your work on canvas?
A: I start with the artwork first. Once I am satisfied with it, I have to work on the technicalities of applying it to the garment. This is usually the most challenging part. Every artwork has its way of being painted and treated. All of them are stretched and mounted on frames first. We have nine artworks that are available right now to our clients, which can be applied to different silhouettes. Each artwork has a different process and a different way to be cared for. All the artworks are 3-Dimensional and come in many colors. Some of the garments are fully sewn before the artwork is applied; others have the artwork sewn after.
We use various techniques from hand dying, brushing, and gluing to molding and sewing. The material we mostly use is silicon, fabric paint, glue, Swarovski crystals, glass sand, titanium net and many others. If I get in more detail, it will take pages.
Q: Do you see yourself as more of a designer or artist?
A: I see myself as many things, an artist and a designer included.
One thing that we agree on here at Glance is that Ema Savahl is one of the best designers in the industry. Take a moment to look at her website and view many of her designs that are worn by some of the hottest celebrities. VIEW MORE...
Ema Savahl Designs
