The Hungarian Müskinn brand delighted the fans of design with bags, accessories and exciting collaborations forfour and a half years. Noémi Sziládi, the founder of the brand is now looking for new challenges—meet Kamay Ko, meaning “my hand” in Filipino.
Tell us about the Kamay Ko label: what is behind this name and how and when did you conceive the idea of the brand?
Kamay Ko means “my hand” in Filipino. For me, the hand is an expressive motif that tells a lot about us to the outer world. The name plays an important role in the brand both literally and figuratively: the products are all hand-crafted and we work with our hands at the workshops primarily, too, and we also plan to introduce a novelty related to nails. I also incorporated the hand motif, which tells stories, gestures and movements, into the logo of the brand. The orange dot is another recurring element, which is also a variable component of the logo: it continuously changes both its color and place, this is how each and every product becomes unique and unrepeatable.
The idea of Kamay Ko was born six months ago and I have been working on it continuously ever since. Eszter Tóth and I were co-designers for four and a half years but with the end of Müskinn in October, our collaboration also came to an end—I started the new brand on my own. I see Kamay Ko as a possibility for knowing and expressing myself better, where free associations, strong visuality and using patterns as building blocks will be in the focus in addition to sustainability and experimenting with technology.
Who are the members of your team and what kind of products can we expect in the future?
I am responsible for designing the products and organizing and developing the workshops as well as the visual identity of the brand, and at the moment I work with a smaller team. Balka’s collective helps me in branding and communication, while partners I have known for some time will participate in manufacturing. Besides them, my friends, existing professional network and of course SISKO Studio‘s team provide a huge support to me.
In the introductory phase of the brand’s life, the repertoire will mainly consist of sweatshirts, tote bags and smaller accessories. Then we’ll launch two customizable collections, both of which will revolve around sustainability both in terms of materials and manufacturing methods. One of the product families will focus expressly on holding its value in the long-term, while the other will give room to innovation and material experiments. They are made for different target groups, for different situations, but both of them are woven through and held together by the values represented by the brand.
Workshops are still very popular today, many people contact me with their ideas. We will continue to organize workshops under the aegis of Kamay Ko: the first sessions are planned to be held in February and will focus on dog accessories, notebook holders, wallets and other smaller items. The details of the workshops will be published on the website and our social media platforms. The brand’s portfolio will also include a fascinating new element: custom-designed nail patterns, with new graphics each month.
Müskinn’s products kept us happy for four and a half years: the brand made various bags and accessories to the joy of the audience. In October 2020, however, you announced the end of the brand. What did you learn during your work in Müskinn that you can also incorporate into the new label? What experiences have you gained over the past years?
I will always look back to Müskinn with a good feeling: it was a beautiful and defining period of my life, it gave me countless experiences and allowed me to meet fantastic people. In addition to insight and experience, however, it also taught me many lessons, to which I will pay more attention in the new brand. Müskinn is an inspiring basis with all of its faults—I will build on these, I will channel in my experience, but I will develop not only the products and the activities related to the brand more consciously, but the business itself, too.
With Müskinn, you often collaborated with other creatives working on different fields. Can we expect exciting collaborations in the case of Kamay Ko, too?
Kamay Ko primarily focuses on expressing my own creative activities and it is less about collaborations. I am proud of the previous projects to this day, we could work with great people and made some incredibly exciting creations, and so there of course will be similar collaborations, but to a lesser degree—mainly on a pop-up basis.
Where can we buy Kamay Ko’s products?
The products will be available online, in the online store of the brand as well as in SISKO Studio, but we also plan to sell our items in the stores of foreign resellers in the future.
Animation: Marcell Bozsik
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