We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hector Diaz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hector below.
Hector , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Since I was 13 years old, growing up seeing the work that my grandma did in her tailor factory in New York, I always had an interest in Fashion. We came from humble beginnings so for us it was important to always use what was around us and think of ways to improve the clothes we already have vs purchasing brand new pieces. This philosophy is what would spark my design principals of only using what’s available to create leading into my brand today.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I first started Kurriizmaitc during the 2021 pandemic. I had just been laid off from my job, I had no money, no resources, and I had to create my senior collection to graduate from SCAD. I simply looked around me and saw that we had a lot of clothes that weren’t going to be worn and decided that from then on out id be creating my senior collection by making my own fabric out of the clothes and materials around me.
When I had graduated, I received high honors and great press for my collection, I began to work in the industry full time for over a year until I became disillusioned with the way major corporations ran their sustainability sectors. I wanted to do and create things that were meaningful for me.
In 2022 I began to take Kurriizmatic full time and started producing my 2nd collection that would be shown at my first ever international runway in Vancouver Fashion Week.
Since then: Kurriizmatic has been growing at an amazing pace, offering bespoke 1 of 1 pieces at a reasonable price using only what has been created to make something new. There is 9 generations worth of clothing in the world and until we clean that mess, our goal remains the same: only create with what’s already been made, never use anything new.
My brand has the potential to end the sustainability question about the fashion industry and provide real change to our world.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
What I think a lot of non-creatives have a hard time understanding is that my products and clothing aren’t for the average person. In an ideal world, Id love for everyone to be themselves and dress how they want to, but I know cultural norms and conversative values will always take precedence’s in some peoples lives and I can’t expect everyone to understand and like the fact that I only create 1 of 1 pieces. Surely I can recreate the same style, but its not going to ever be the exact same as the thing that was shown before. Its like no matter how hard you try to imamate a person, you are who you are, and you are a 1 of 1 individual, so I believe that clothing should tell the same story. That people should be able to dress and be who they want without any limits.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
What I believe we need in our society in order to allow artists to thrive is simply to provide and listen to the things that we need the most. Everyone is good at something, whether its art, or business, but not everyone can do both of the same things at once and with the same amount of passion and love. Since we live in a world were both of these things are required, I believe in order for artists to succeed and do what we love and have purpose in, we need more collaboration within our communities. Government programs should be a standard to sponsor and provide for people who just wish to create and bring their art into this world without the fear or need of thinking about how to sell it or what purpose will it provide in a finical sector. Many places across the world have things like this for their citizens, and I believe the US needs to adapt in order to provide what is right for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kurriizmatic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kurriizmatic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hector-diaz-fashion/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ60S88xKiRQ3_xd25Ce3Gg
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kurriizmatic
Image Credits
Photography: Oliver Barlie (Purple Set)
Styling: Carolina Barrenechea
Yuxuan Paris Zhang
Makeup: Mackenzie Tyrell
@PirateKieren
Models:
August Hunt
Brianna Maynard
Breonna Weeks
Geneva Frampton
Photography: Arun Nevader
Styling: Bryan De LaCruz
Yuxuan Paris Zhang
Ysabella Q
Models:
Jenna Whyte
Shauna Griffiths
Jayden Barnes
Jong-Han Lim