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Olio By Marilyn - Hector Diaz AKA "Kurriizma" (Ca-ris-ma) is a Fashion Designer/ Illustrator that has a dream of a sustainable world free of boundaries and limitations that society places on themselves. Kurriizma Focuses on Gender-Free Clothing with sustainable aspects being a core principle of the brand.
Kurriizma is originally from Brooklyn, New York, having lived in several places including Atlanta, and Tampa. Kurriizma studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta, Georgia and received a Bachelor of fine arts in Fashion Design with a minor in Fashion Marketing. Coming off the heels of the previous collection: “Dreamtopia” this next collection titled: “Pandemonium” will be a new chapter in the story of the brand: Kurriizmatic.
Kurriizmatic is a gender-neutral brand that focuses on sustainability by creating garments in a format known as “Negative Waste”. Kurriizmatic Apparel is all 100% made from 2nd hand clothing, fabrics, and scraps to create brand new fabric and clothing that can be re-woven into various silhouettes and sizes.
Pandemonium is the 2nd collection for Kurriizma, and its main inspiration follows the tale of a “fools’ journey” through a vast journey of overcoming nightmares. A follow up collection from “Dreamtopia” Pandemonium encompasses the same “Dream Weaving” technique that was developed by Kurriizma in the previous collection. The various looks are inspired by real nightmares and Dreams that Designer Kurriizma had recorded. Everything within this collection is hand woven, from accessories, to shoes, to the clothing itself, all being meticulously made from other 2nd clothing and garments.
Interview -
Please share a bit about your journey to embrace fashion design as a career.
Fashion has always been apart of my life. Since I was young growing up in New York City, my grandmother owned a tailor factory and introduced me to the art of making clothing. I picked up a pencil and paper and begin to sketch outfits that I would see.
How did you learn your skills?
When I was young, I asked my grandmother to teach me how to hand sew because I had an idea to take my old clothes apart and start to piece it together (This would be the event were I got my design philosophy from). Then I went to a Fashion Academy High school were I learned how to properly Fashion Sketch for 3 years, and after graduation went to SCAD to purse a Bachelors degree in Fashion Design. There I learned more traditional ways of design such as pattern making, draping, etc.
Who are you as a designer? Aesthetic? Customer? Brand?
Kurriizmatic (Cha-ris-ma-tic) is a brand of dreams and ideas of the unconscious mind. My Brand itself is Non-Binary, we don't follow a gender or form, we create clothing for unique individuals. Our mantra is simple: "We are unique, your clothes should be a reflection of you." and based of that principle, all of our pieces we sell are 1/1 sustainable pieces made from old clothes and scrap fabrics. Our brand functions off preventing waste from entering our environment by encouraging people to donate their old clothes to use so we can make new fabric out of it. The reason its spelled "Kurriizmatic" instead of "Charismatic" is because I've suffered from dyslexia my entire life. Growing up I had to sound out a lot of words to spell them, However; I struggled to spell Charismatic properly so I just started to spell it the way it sounds to me.
What comes easiest for you as a designer? What is hardest?
I would say for me, the easiest part of being a designer is conceptualization to making of collections, and the hardest part of being a designer is establishing a customer base and building a market from scratch.
Where do you find inspiration for new collections? How important is colour to your design process?
For me, I find inspiration through my own personal experiences. My brand is based around the idea of Dreams and Jungian Psychology. I would Say that my most recent collections have been inspired by the various early 2000's video games I've been playing. The gravity and story that is told throughout these games has really allowed me to tell a compelling narrative through my clothing alone. Color is very important to my work, its the very much the foundation of all my outfits to have the coordination of color and construction in unison with one another.
Readers would love to know more about the current collection you showed at Vancouver Fashion Week.
My second collection is titled: "Pandemonium" its a story about the famous fools journey of navigating a world of nightmares to overcome adversity. I based this entire collection to be an antithesis to my first collection "Dreamtopia" were as one was all about the dreams and positivity of what want to accomplish vs this one being the hardships and reality that we must endure to reach those dreams. It is a reflection of real world events in my life and the world around me. I wanted to tell a much darker story while still having a hopeful tone that my brand stands for.
Everything in this collection is Hand Made from various fabric scraps, old clothing, and donated fabric. My goal with this collection is to help raise awareness on overconsumption and waste within our industry and show people that we can prevent and remove waste that we create by thinking outside of the box.
Do you have a favorite look in this collection?
Yes I do, I want to bring back capes as a fashionable item. This collection, you'll see one of my outfits has a very large cape that drapes nicely over the shoulders. I hope people will start making capes socially acceptable again.
Written by Olio By Marilyn from "Olio By Marilyn" Magazine
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