El-Malak, who grew up in Qatar and Canada, headed to the French capital and ended up launching his own brand as a result of his graduation project, based on the creation of tights and leggings that were cut and sewn, rather than knit, so they would last longer.

 

He returned to Qatar after graduation, and spent time coming up with ideas for clothing that incorporated his roots in some way.

 

He started to explore Yemeni traditional hand-woven fabrics, then Tunisian fabrics, raffia weaving in Morocco, jewelry from Tunisia and weaving from Egypt.

 

He said that Initially he was alone with limited means, so he couldn’t go crazy and do five countries in one collection. so he  started slowly, collection by collection, working with one artisan, then another, then working with several people to create a modern fashion collection.

And from those humble beginnings, El-Malak has managed to make a significant mark on the industry.

 

That newfound confidence led him to participate in the Sabeel competition to design drinking fountains for Expo 2020, which Dubai was scheduled to host next month, but which has now been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the winners have been announced, the project itself is still under wraps, so El-Malak refused to share any details, but it’s clear he is excited by the win.