Stories in Grain

Category: Design*

Stories in Grain (Where leather becomes a canvas, and jazz is etched into silence.) This collection is presented through the lens of jazz culture, where I position myself not only as a fashion designer, but also as a composer. The central concept lies in translating both the surface-level perception of jazz and the deeper understanding shared by true jazz musicians into the foundation of the design process. Drawing from the language of jazz, I developed design elements and garment structures that echo its rhythm, improvisation, and layered complexity. The primary technique I used is laser-engraved cowhide leather utilizing a home-based laser cutting machine to sculpt intricate patterns into the leather. These engraved details become my- personal “jazz composition,” embedded directly onto the material. Each engraved line, curve, and negative space represents a rhythm, a motif, or a moment expressing my version of jazz, not through sound, but through form. This is jazz, as I feel it. This is my jazz. “If jazz were a garment, it would be sculpted in leather — layered, improvised, and deeply personal.”