FROM HOME, WITH LOVE

BORN FROM a MUTUAL VISION TO EVOKE NEW SARTORIAL EXPRESSIONS of MODERN CHINESE CULTURE, FASHION BRAND MARRKNULL IS LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, WHILE STAYING TRUE to ITS ROOTS

- JAMIE LEE

For womenswear brand MARRKNULL, founded by Chinese designers Wang Wei and Tim Shi, the brand’s ethos is less about upholding one’s heritage and more about weaving their own culture into the present. Instead of looking back, the brand focuses on looking forward, while staying true to what it is.

Wang Wei and Tim Shi were born and raised in small towns in south and north China respectively. Growing up, women from their hometowns did not know much about fashion and luxury. “But it did not prevent them from loving fashion, plus they were not bound by so-called [ideas like high fashion],” the pair shares. Instead, they saw that these women expressed “their own understanding of beauty and style with confidence”, which greatly impacted the pair’s formation of style and fashion.

The duo first met in high school during painting classes and became fast friends. They pursued different paths when it came to higher education: Wang attained a Bachelor’s of Art in Knitwear at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology while Shi gained a Bachelor’s in Built Environment at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing.