As promised! The story about woman behind jewellery brand Mawi.
Mawi Keivom is an extraordinary woman. Having been introduced to her by a friend during London Fashion Week I couldn't stop telling how much I adore her work! It was a very busy day so I didn't really have time for chatting. The next day when I came to Somerset House I decided to take another glance at her inspiring 10 year anniversary collection and met Mawi again. This time we couldn’t stop talking about her life and the brand. Mawi told me all about where she started and how she got where she is now. She is a very vibrant and interesting person, whose life is nothing less but a beautiful fairy tale.
Born in the Kingdom Manipur, situated in the North-East of India, she has always been inspired by her father. He was born in a very poor family and achieved everything himself. Ambitions to succeed helped him become an extraordinary man - writer, composer, diplomat and humanitarian. As a daughter of diplomat Mawi has lived in numerous countries and gained huge knowledge about different cultures and traditions. This explains why her collections are a clash of different styles and stories. Mawi’s life is a vivid example of how possible it is to achieve your dreams believing in them and moving towards them in the right direction.
"I had a burning desire from inside to achieve something in my life. Looking back at my dad’s life I always knew I can live my dream. When I was 14 I printed my own label, I just knew I wanted to have one some day. I always looked at things from a different angle, interpreting everything from my own perspective. When I created the brand 10 years ago I wanted it to be something out of the box – unique and distinguished. Mawi jewellery is all about putting opposites in one piece – feminine + brutal, soft + hard.
My starting capital was £750 that I got from my friends and family. I was buying different things from flea market and making something special, something different out of them. My first collection was very feminine, yet cool: lace collars, coins, pearls, and crosses. It was a mix of pirate and Victorian styles. I never would have thought that this collection would sell well, nevertheless we received orders from 100 stores. Of course we didn’t have materials to produce that many pieces. We had to tell buyers that each piece would be different and they were happy about it. It was very amateur, but fun and successful.
I still don’t have investors and I think that the brand wouldn’t be so popular if we had them, as we wouldn’t be so creative and I wouldn’t have known the whole business from inside. My brand is not about making money. I don’t need yachts and fancy houses. What matters is that I love the brand and the product. There's different value in doing what I do".
Very inspiring, right?!
If you want to know what is there next for the brand that seems to have achieved everything, I'll tell you. When we were discussing the future of the brand Mawi said that collaborating with big jewellery brands is the next step for her. How crazy would it be to see Mawi designs made out of precious stones and metals!
London
