With the end of Young Enterprise Màla won two awards, the Overall Winners of the Final in Northern Ireland and the Digital Presence Awards in the UK Finals. We were extremely proud of our achievements so far. As co-founders we decided to continue with Màla, we applied for the Belfast Enterprise Academy Mentoring Scheme. I took on the role of Head of Design, I first looked at the design, fabric, pattern, but also took on the design of our website and brand guidelines.
With Katie as the Managing Director/Head of Visuals and Rachel as Head of Marketing, we had a solid team moving forward. This is when Covid-19 hit, fortunately for me I moved back home which meant I was safe but away from the city, the next few months were filled with a lot of zoom meeting, self learning and most of all working out team dynamics.
Throughout this period I went through a lot of self growth, as an entrepreneur and designer. My knowledge of design is constantly evolving especially with Màla as I am designing a multifunctional product to fill a customers need rather then adding to the already saturated fashion market. There’s a lot more boxes to fill and the customer experience of the product is what drives design at Màla.
Alongside the design aspects, sustainability and transparency go hand in hand, as a team we make sure our supply chain is transparent, as the designer I make sure our bags are made with the highest ethical standards. At this moment in time I am the only maker, so every bag that goes out to the customer is made by me I make sure the standard is kept throughout.
RADEK STUDIO 