MARIA MARIANO

As a biochemist turned fashion designer, this has been an interesting development in Maria Mariano's journey; despite their seeming differences, there is quite surprisingly a bit of familiarity. Thinking about where the materials in clothes derive from is a process that has organically coincided with her background in biochemistry and perspective on design. The building block molecules that join to create our DNA; the organic molecules that come together to create the framework for garments are concepts that became synonymous to Maria. In such, the fundamental components, what they are and where they come from, are what fascinate her most about the process of design.

Biochemistry offered her medical school and when she was rejected, it began to feel as if her place in this industry became one-directional. And so, began her curiosity in the fluidity of the fashion world. Picking up fashion photography as a hobby, and after meeting others who shared common interest on designs that rooted in reusing materials as a need, she created a collective. Organizing pop ups to showcase their designs, new opportunities came her way to further explore her interest in the cyclical nature of sustainability in fashion.

Since leaving biochemistry 5 years ago, Maria has worked in many aspects of the fashion industry, striving to cultivate and position her skills accordingly. As much as her studies were about learning the sciences behind living organisms; in its macro sense, it became a history in the evolution of humans and now, clothes continue this expanding story for her.