We have fantasies and secrets we are ashamed of, hidden and tucked away under our beds. Yet, sometimes we think of them and they awake up from the darkness and come alive, they are part of us and who we are.

Key reflects his teenage year experience: "As gay and on the spectrum being a teenager was sometimes rather lonely. I imagined characters to be friends with as I felt no one else could understand me. I also realized some of them in the form of love and erotic themed manga drawings. It was pure imagination - a form of escapism and self-expression at that time.

Once my drawings were found and they raised conversation and concern within my family. I was ashamed and didn’t know who to talk to. I buried all those fantasies, under my bed and hoped they would never see daylight again. Even after all these years, I can still remember those characters and stories I created, they must have had great meaning to me, there is no way I can forget them. They are still reminding me who I was, who I am.”

Overt time, tucked away things get faded, moth-eaten and dusty. In this collection KAWAkEY uses digital prints on various kinds of Tencel satin and BCI cotton twills to imitate these effects – layered prints and textures dissolve into each other. Mohair/ Alpaca blended yarns are knitted with unique gradients effect to reinterpret fabric fades in an exaggerated form, then heavily brushed to imitate a worn out romantic knits.

“We see the beauty of imperfection. Sometimes when experimenting textile treatments and pattern cutting we just cannot avoid errors or failures, which can be very inspiring and uniquely beautiful."

Reimagining traditional textile crafts with sustainable materials and practices, KAWAkEY is a London-based label designing deconstructed knitwear and prints that bring new emotions and ideas into a genderless wardrobe with vivid colorways and unexpected proportions.

FASHIONADO