Interview to the designer Lako Bukia

By Gioia Gange

Continues the series of interviews dedicated to the new Georgian designers. This is the time of Lako Bukia.

When and how you decided that you wanted to be a designer?  It was your dream job?

When I think when I first started loving Fashion I start remembering the days when I first got Barbie and its clothes. I didn’t know what was Fashion about that time, but I still remember the feeling of how excited I was when I had all this clothes to mix and match, I was doing it for hours and hours and was never getting bored. I think when I truly realised what was designing I was already studying for my first BA in State Academy of arts in Tbilisi and that year I moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins and it was then when I was 100 % sure I was on the right track

 Which is the first thing you designed and for who (yourself,a friend…)?

I really don’t remember, I will call it playing with fabrics in the beginning , I think my real designing work was my first graduation collection for Tbilisi state academy of arts .

Who’s the designer you admire the most and why?

Yoji Yamamoto, he is an inspiration himself as a person and also I adore his knowledge in construction. I think many designers learn from his work. As a label nowadays I love KENZO, Proenza Schouler and Rodarte

 Who’s your muse, your icon, when you create a dress?

I don’t really have a muse or center person in mind when I design a dress, but I have several icons that I admire. One of them is Patti Smith, I even have thunder tattoo as she has on her knees. Her biographical book “just kids’ is my true inspiration for life.

If you had to design an entire collection using just one color, which is the one you’d pick and why?

White! I admire white. it is my favorite color. It is romantic, pure, elegant and strong at the same time. White has 100 different characters at the same time it depends how you cut or drape it.

Who’s the first person you show your sketches to?

My sister, I love her sense of style and also she is the one who will tell me the truth. I love criticism I think it is one of the most important things for designer to grow. She is always tuff on me and I trust her. This upcoming season she will be styling my show, which is super exciting for me

The fabric you love the most…silk, lace, velvet and why?

Quality is very important for me. I love working with soft fabrics and doing structure, The feel of the fabric is important to me. I called my previous collection ‘touch’ and used velvet and leather everyone wanted to touch it.

If your clothes had a soundtrack, which songs you’d choose?

Lana Del Rey – Ride , Sky Ferreira – Ghost, everything is Embarrassing, The xx – Angels

Do you have any trick to avoid that “blank page” moment when you’re at the beginning of the designing of a new collection? Do you watch a movie, flip an old magazine…

Usually I walk the streets I usually don’t go to, old magazines help me too. But my inspirations don’t come from clothing; they come from buildings, people, and spaces. Being alone with myself really helps me to concentrate. I love having music in my earphones when we work in the studio, there are many people but I create my own space, mood and start designing.

If you weren’t a designer which job in the fashion world you would like to do and why?

For my label I do lot of different work, I am involved in marketing, sales, Pr etc. I love it all because it is connected to my design work. I think in Fashion if I had a choice I would choose design or research nothing else  but I have many other interest in life, Physiology is my number 1 priority.
Lako Bukia was born on October 4, 1987 in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia. She did her first BA at A. Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Art, where she graduated with a BA in Fashion and Textiles Diploma. After this Lako went to London and did a second BA at the prestigious London College of Fashion specializing in Womenswear. Meanwhile, she started her own luxury label LAKO BUKIA, which has been shown at London Fashion Week for 4 seasons as well as various catwalks and showrooms in Paris, Berlin, Kiev. In 2012 Lako opened her boutique in Tbilisi, Georgia. That same year she added a diffusion line Lolo by Lako to the brand. Two years ago Lako moved to New York to do a Master’s Degree at Parsons, The New School for Design. In the summer of 2014 she successfully graduated from the MFA course.