Blogs

[#1]

I received a lot of questions about my background and where I started, so I thought I would give you all a quick snapshot of my life up to this point.

I was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. My love for art, fashion and accessories really started at a very young age. My grandmother was an expert seamstress and my grandfather was a jeweler. When I was 5 years old I learned sewing, pattern making and jewelry making. Spending many hours a day with my grandparents, I was taught to master each of these skills. For my 7^th birthday my grandmother gave me her old sewing machine and from then on I began to sew with her everyday and make my own clothes and accessories.

At the age of 12 my father, an Australian giftware importer, took me under his wing and began teaching me the ins and outs of the importing business. I traveled with my father non-stop over the next few years spending time in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand, learning his trade and assisting him with buying and exhibiting at giftware tradeshows all over the world.

When I graduated high school I was accepted into Industrial Design at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology where I majored in product design and engineering. Although this course did not have much to do with “fashion” it taught me to think in 3D and gave me the skills to not only focus on the aesthetics of an object but to understand and master the importance of functionality, durability, usability and ergonomics.

During my studies, the popular TV show Project Runway was taking place at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City and aired in Australia, quickly becoming a fashion phenomenon. I was fascinated with the idea of New York and made it my mission to find a way to attend Parsons The New School for Design to further my studies in Fashion. After a rigorous and challenging year of preparing my submission, I finally received the letter--“Welcome to Parsons”! It was one of the happiest and most fulfilling days of my life. I had two weeks to pack up life and move to New York City.

While attending Parsons, I completed design internships as well as designed runway collections for various luxury brands, some of which include Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi Couture, Sass & Bide, Jill Stuart and Alexander McQueen.

While working for particular brands, I found that I was constantly faced with roadblocks when trying to push the limits with creativity. I was working in environments where creativity couldn’t flourish and this was something I needed to change.

My training as both an industrial and accessory designer has given me the skills necessary to design and build beautiful accessories in an innovative and functional way. My 3-D vision of objects really gives me the ability to create product, not only for its aesthetic look, but also for its function which is the magic combination for today’s modern woman.

I decided to take a risk and leave the company where I was working to begin focusing all of my attention on designing the first collection for my namesake brand, Aimee Kestenberg. I turned the living room of my apartment into a design studio and had handbags, sketches, boards, leather swatches EVERYWHERE in the apartment! I could barely move! It was such an inspiring but stressful time for me. I designed the entire Spring season out of my apartment and put my heart and soul into the launch of the brand. I was incredibly fortunate with the reaction, being picked up by QVC, Nordstrom, Macys just to name a few, as well as specialty stores across 20 States and 3 Countries.

I hope that you feel like you know me a little better now, especially because you'll be seeing more of me around the Q! I'll be back with an hour show in May, so be sure to tune in to see my latest bags. I'll also be continuing to write blogs, so keep checking back to follow me on this new, exciting chapter in my life! In the meantime, check out my full collection here.

xoxo,

Aimee