Ala Mairi

Fatima Mahmood was born and brought up in Pakistan and moved to Scotland when she was 19, where she studied fashion and textile in Edinburgh College. She has a strong affiliation with both cultures and loves the vibrancy and the richness the craftsmanship, each country and culture has to offer. Her inspiration stems from Islamic architecture and the Scottish Highlands, creating unique and unusual designs by applying a contemporary approach and aesthetics to luxurious fabrics. Her
interpretation of differing design mediums, motifs and manipulation techniques encapsulates the quality and individuality-synonymous with contemporary designs.
The artisan nature of each Ala Mairi piece means that every woven, print, embellishment and design varies, making your garments as exclusive and individual as you.
The seeds of Ala Mairi were sown in 2011 after an exploration into traditional handloom weaving in Scotland. In the same year Fatima visited Pakistan, where she met a community of talented hand embroiders.She was in awe of the ‘work of art’ and handmade craftsmanship in both countries.This deep personal journey set her into a new path where the doors for Ala Mairi started opening, in both these places she was committed to involve these artisans who drew on generations of experience to produce beautiful pieces of art. Overwhelmed and inspired by the beauty and intricacy of their craftsmanship, she felt a desire to preserve these timeless and labour intensive skills.
Ala Mairi was born with the philosophy to preserve the intricacy of Scottish cottage industry of hand loom weaving and fine needle work by women in welfare centres in Pakistan. Her mission is to ensure Ala Mairi’s artisans can live with dignity and bestow on their exquisite talents for generations to come. Fatima draws on her new Scottish roots and her own Pakistani ancestry to conceptualise her collections of delicate pieces made up of distinctive aesthetics and luxurious ethically
sourced silks. The yarns for the hand woven fabric which are produced in Scotland use natural Shetland spun wool, fine silks, and organic cottons. Threads for the stunning embellishments used in the embroidery are 100% silks and luxurious fabrics which are ethical and hand dyed. Her passion is to keep the brands
ethics to be in harmony with the true handmade quality found within the work.
Her innovation and creativity takes another step forward in 2015 when her idea to transfer the weave textures and motifs into print designs. This Idea came to her as she wanted to produce a range of fabrics as collaboration with Scottish hand loom weavers push the boundaries of the original motifs of woven cloth.
The digital prints fuse together the creative ideas and take the new designs onto a whole new level, creating new dimensions for printing on to Modal silk and bamboo silk, the Luxurious yet most ethical fabrics around. All Ala Mairi artisans are independent designers and craft workers. By merging these cultures together Ala Mairi creates something altogether unique – a way of bringing these traditions to the cutting edge of fashion.