Personal Brand Project: Mood

The self branding project is one where I took a look within my own self to find inspiration. I tend to stray away from doing this because of always trying to not design for myself and making designs for a set customer. However, I feel it is also important to search within because there can be a strong presence of my true creative choices because of who I am and my life experiences.

The collection (so far) is titled In Continuum, based off of my acceptance of the influence from multiple cultural backgrounds in my life. Being born in Moscow, Russia and having strong ties to Azerbaijani culture from my father's side, I always felt like I didn't fully belong in American culture as a child. But now, growing up, I feel influence from all three countries and find empowerment from mix of the 'new and old' influence. To show this inner merging of the cultures, I looked withing the city of Baku, Azerbaijan, which I had the chance of visiting last year. 

The city has had recent contemporary construction added to many parts of the city that often housed buildings and monuments over 500 years old. However, by accepting the two styles and not fighting over which is more properly placed, the mix of new architecture, like the Flame Towers and the Heidar Aliev Center by Zaha Hadid with the old city infrastructure, such as the Shiravanshah Palace and the Maiden Tower create a beautiful new script for Baku. 

Current Mood Board

I took the natural colors of the stone and brick and added the white, sky blue, and yellow tones of the more contemporary building for contrast.