ByNourRamzi
A person who inspires or influences others is a “luminary”. It’s no wonder then that brothers Jad and SaadBlaik, and their cousin, Ali Hourani, chose “Luminary” Clothing as the name of their fashion company.They told Tempo how their company spreadscreativity andinspiration…
TEMPO: Who is the Luminary Clothing team?
Saad: Without Jad, Ali, and me – all of us -the idea of this clothing brand would have never been born. However, without Rashed Hassan and Ameen Yarkhan, the company would have never grown and matured to what it is today. Obviously, along the way we accepted a lot of help from other people and organizations. People such as Benedict Smith, Niedsano, various models and photographers, our parents, and many other business professionals helped us make decisions.
TEMPO: How did you find your love and passion for designing clothes?
Jad: We love designing in general, so designing clothes was something that came naturally to us. We see general designing as the gateway to designing clothes. We like to think of clothes and particularly T-shirts as our personal canvases. We have been lucky enough to be able to travel to many different places and to explore what the world has to offer. We saw great variety in the way people around the world dress and act. These experiences motivated us to design clothes of our own and to offer them back to the people that inspired us initially.
TEMPO: How long has ‘Luminary Clothing’ been around?
Ali:Since early September in 2014 and we have truly witnessed immense changes since then. The brand has grown throughout the year. It is exciting how time flies by, I can’t believe that we just celebrated our one-year anniversary!
TEMPO: What’s your creative process like?
Jad:It is essential to make sure that we are never working alone. The most important thing is for every individual in the Luminary Clothing Team to put out all our ideas at the start of the process, and then we submit these to another part of the team that fine tunes them into products.
TEMPO: How did people react to your work when you launched?
Saad:They were curious at first, and then became genuinely interested. People were curious because quite frankly there aren’t many clothing companies with styles and concepts like ours. They became interested because ours is a home grown brand in Abu Dhabi. Most people expect something like this to happen in Dubai first then make its way to Abu Dhabi. We kept everyone in the dark about who was behind the brand in order to gained honest feedback and avoid biased opinions.
TEMPO: Do you think your work is inspired by others?
Ali:To become trendsetters, we need to be trend followers. So the answer to this question is, yes, we are inspired by celebrities, athletes, royalty, entrepreneurs, and many individuals that influence the domain we work in. When it comes to designing our clothes, we are inspired by culture, history, music and art. Most importantly, Saad inspires Jad and Jad inspires Saad.
TEMPO: Future plans you want to share with the community?
Jad:The goal is to be completely disruptive as Luminary Clothing continues to develop. We plan to partner with the “Books for Connections” charity. We have also decided to divide the company into two different sectors. Our first line“LMNRY” would represent urban street-wear, whereas “Luminary” will be the somewhat ‘higher end’.
TEMPO: Do you have a message for aspiring designers?
Saad:The most important thing a designer should do is to design for themselves. We aren’t selfish designers, but our most important target is ourselves. Do not doubt your opinion. Another thing is making sure that you sell what people want. We aren’t your typical local clothing line, even if we are the first teenagers to start a fashion brand in Abu Dhabi.
{gallery}Luminary Clothing- October2015{/gallery}
