In this weeks Chit Chat Tuesday we meet the childrenswear designer of the luxury label Tuchinda.
Meet Tina Tuchinda.
JS: Can you tell me a little about the current spring collection? The embroidery on the girls’ dresses and separates is truly exquisite. Did you design with a muse in mind? What inspired the concept for the collection?
TT: SS16 was inspired by my obsession with Joao Gilberto’s Bossa nova style music. I pretty much listened to it the whole season I was designing SS16. Also I love vintage ethnic embroidery and Victorian/Edwardian lace tea dresses…. all which became the basis for my current collection. So, if you put all that together with a dash of Brazilian tropical inspired prints…. you have my SS16! My muse is always the child with a free spirit…the kind of kid who is so cool and doesn’t even know it….nor cares, haha!
JS: Do you have any upcoming news you can share with us?
TT: I’m very excited to announce that our company is finally at a place where we can do what we had originally founded the company for: give back to our favourite children’s charities. Currently, we work with Children’s Rights based right here in NYC. They do the most phenomenal work for abused and neglected children…helping to make policy changes from state to state regarding the broken foster care system in United States. It is very important to Jay and I that we create a company where children help children…in this case privileged children helping abused and neglected children via purchasing inspiring clothing….in turn inspiring them to create businesses that promote an artistic sense as well as have social responsibility.
Going along with social responsibility, our other exciting news is that we will be delving into sustainability for our company. We will be working with various organisations to slowly change every aspect of our business to become more sustainable. The manufacturing of clothing is destructive to the environment in so many ways, and we want to be able to be as socially and environmentally conscience as we possibly can.
JS: Your connection to three cities—Milan, Paris and Tokyo—has played an important role in your development as a designer. Have you been able to indulge your travel bug now that you are the mum of two young children?
TT: it’s been hard to travel to any exotic location with a very active and naughty 1-year-old boy. Our 4-year-old is fine on planes now, but we will wait a little to travel far. That being said, I am trying to persuade my husband to take a gap year and have our little family travel all over the world to all the places we are dying to go to. In the meantime, we’ve been traveling to places where the plane ride is less than 4 hours, haha!
JS: What are you reading/listening to right now?
TT: For some reason I have “Koop Island Blues” on repeat lately. Also, I just saw Lou Doillon in concert here in NYC….she’s amazing in person! Also, I love Bach’s “Air on the G String”
I’ve been so busy after two kids, that I haven’t been able to finish a book…but on my nightstand right now: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
JS: As a mum and an entrepreneur your days are filled to the brim. When you’re able to carve out some ‘Tina time’ how do you spend it?
TT: Horseback riding/jumping is my #1 “ME” time activity. Other activities vary: learning French, macramé, gardening, tennis, learning cello…. basically learning anything new to avoid a stagnant life.
JS: What are your goals/aspirations for Tuchinda design? Where do you see the label in five years’ time?
TT: Since we donate a percentage of all our profits to children’s organisations, I hope that Tuchinda grows into a more global brand and is successful for a long time so that we can help more and more abused children. Our long term goal is to be able to open safe adoption centres for children in third world countries with the profits from our business. It is my passion, my mission, and I feel my purpose in life.
We would also of course like to be completely sustainable in five years’ time.
Shop the Tuchinda summer collection here.
