Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shadi Karbasi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shadi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I never went to school for fashion, I went to school for interior design but I do feel like the design aspect gave me more aware of details especially when it comes to fabrics and materials. I learned how to sew without ever taking any classes, mainly just trial and error with my sewing machine. The main obstacle was understanding what tension and needle to use with each fabric that I was using. That is when I started watching more YouTube videos to understand more about how the sewing machine works and that helped making the sewing process smoother. The first year or two of sewing was constant needle breaking and thread bunching, not understanding why the material wouldn’t sew or what the problem would be. I do wish that I had some kind of mentor or teacher because it could have saved me a lot of time and headache that I had to spend trying to figure everything out on my own.

Shadi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Shadi and I am a fashion designer. I focus on island wear (bikinis, dresses, coverups) and have also gotten more into festival wear as well. Ever since I was a little kid I loved playing dress up and dressing up other people (my brother was my first model, he was not a fan). Towards the end of my college career I decided to start sewing and learn some basics starting with reworks. I fell in love with the creativity of it all and have been sewing ever since. I started my clothing brand in 2021, mainly doing collection based pieces. Over time, I have been making more one of one pieces because I love being able to be creative with what I’m doing and not making the same piece over and over again. I would say my specialty is custom work, being able to turn a clients idea into life and making them feel confident brings me a lot of joy. What I’d say I’m most proud of is my dedication to making new designs and staying creative.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say the most rewarding aspect of being a creative and designer is the joy it brings me and others. Every time I finish a piece I feel so fulfilled and proud, it keeps me motivated and inspired to create even more pieces and hoping that the pieces bring others joy and confidence when they wear it as well.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since I have started my brand I have also has one or two other jobs at the same time. The goal is to create an environment where I can work on my brand full time but what people do not see is that a lot of designers or artists also have other jobs to help sustain their lives. For me personally it got to the point where I wanted to give up on my dreams and stop working on the brand because of the time and stress I would get from it. I gave myself some time off from creating for some time but I honestly became so sad and unmotivated that I realized that even though I cannot do this full time yet, designing and creating is such a huge part of who I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shadikarbasi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadibyshadikarbasi/

Image Credits

Photo Credits: Tim Wothy