Merging the two fascinating worlds of fashion and illustration, Aljoud Lootah brings to us her hip and exclusive fashion line Niftee. Niftee has grown from a simple graduation project to a well-known regional brand that has got everyone talking. The exclusivity behind Niftee is what makes it so special. The essence of that comes from the fact that all their products are carefully handmade and available only in limited editions.
Since founding this Emirati-home grown brand in 2007, Aljoud Lootah has created two limited edition t-shirt lines with colorful illustrated designs based on hip themes. Lootah tells us that her themes are basically random; being a designer she gets her creative ideas and designs from everything that is around her. Lootah explains, “I find inspiration in my daily surroundings – be it a pattern created by a torn grungy piece of wrapping paper, a painting hung in the hall of Madinat Arena, a black and white photo of my grandfather with the late Sheikh Maktoum, patterns created by a bunch of stacked shoes sold at the old Nayef Souk, Arabesque, Arabic calligraphy, Polaroid photographs, baking cupcakes, you name it! That’s how random my inspirations are!”
But that’s not all Niftee is about, Lootah’s slowly moving out of the box and putting her talents into creating other fabulous and fashionable accessories. This takes us to the Niftee shawls; soft, cashmere and definitely exclusive are the words that describe Niftee’s it item of the year. The demand for the customized shawls are immense, everyone is out to hunt for one. They are specially ordered by customers to suit their tastes, whether it’s the color of the shawl or embroidery on it, Niftee is taking charge of that to bring you your perfect shawl.
As a brand Niftee has grown to be recognizable in the gulf and other parts of the globe. Lootah tells us “I am very pleased with where Niftee managed to get in such short time – I had orders from random people from all over the globe. In addition to that, some of the t-shirts were stocked at Waqif Art Center in Qatar and we’re currently studying potential expansion to other GCC countries as well.”
With that Niftee’s designs have been spotted in European design books as well as magazines from places like KSA to India. Niftee is surely aiming to be an international brand.
Lootah tells us that now Niftee is working on their fabulous winter 2009 collection and Spring/Summer 2010 collection. So for all of you who indulge in exclusiveness watch out for Niftee, because it is going to blow your mind away!
For more information log onto the Niftee official website or visit Niftee’s Facebook page.
– Fatma Lootah. Images: Niftee
