Brand Story ✿
Hello, I'm Violet! ✿ I'm an avid dreamer and window shopper. I started Mokapuff to pour my heart into manifesting the designs I've endlessly sought and never found. Mokapuff is here to breathe a little element of fantasy into your everyday wear.
It all began with an existential crisis. I was stressed out from the prospects of the industry I work in and tired of the hole I'd dug myself into. I was unhappy with the path I chose for myself and the direction I was headed in. Every day felt like a fight against the current, every part of me tied down by the heavy weight of dread. Living day by day as a means of survival is a difficult way to exist. Living in a constant state of "when will this be over?", ticking off the days, waiting for tomorrow. I was trapped in that trajectory. It was a quiet afternoon when I looked out the window and envisioned what I wanted for my life. The story I wanted to unfold for myself. I pictured an ideal world and thought to myself, "what would I want to be doing if I wasn't bound to any financial obligations or responsibilities?"
I let my thoughts pull me away from reality for a second. And I found myself at a door I turned my back to and closed off early on in childhood. I always dreamed of being an artist, of crafting beautiful things, of designing... I love the art of creation. I love pouring my heart and soul into an idea. The act of capturing a fleeting thought from the chaotic mess inside my head and anchoring it to reality. Pinning it down before it slips away, to turn it from something that whispers only in my mind to something tangible in this world. Something I can hold and show or see and experience. I want to pour parts of me into everything I make. So that one day, when I'm long gone, and my memory is nothing more than a veil of dust... Maybe someone will pick up something I've created, and for a flicker of a moment—their soul will see mine.
I once dreamed of having my own shop, my own little brand. As a little girl I would take scraps of cloth and make clothing for my stuffed animals. I drew with lead until my hands blistered, I painted, I made charms out of polymer clay from morning to night... I've always had this knack for creating. But at some point, I just abandoned that part of myself.
Survival came first, academics came first, securing a comfortable future came first. I locked up the creative in me and set it aside so I could put my head down and work, relentlessly. I've been in the workforce since it's been legal for me to be. I've juggled seasonal work, part time jobs simultaneously to university, picked up freelance work wherever I could. I did not feel like I had the privilege nor the freedom to just chase my heart's desires after my parents and grandparents made worlds of sacrifice for me to be here. There were responsibilities in my life that had to come first. I didn't want to let my family down. But as the years passed by, it slowly ate away at my soul. The more I tried to stifle my creative flame, the bleaker my life became.
There was a turning point where I had no choice but to disappoint my family. I had no choice but to take my life into my own hands and veer away from the career path I worked towards for my entire life. I once wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be the positive figure I found in my own mentors early on in life. I wanted to instill kindness into young minds. I saw it as a happy compromise. A job I could feel fulfilled by and one that would also please my parents because of its academic nature. Due to certain circumstances, I had to let go of that dream. The circumstances were out of my control at the time, but looking back I'm grateful that I was taken on a different life course.
The creative in me never died, but it's been starving this whole time. It's been many years since, and I'm finally turning back. I'm extending my hand to my younger self, the frail girl who was too afraid to chase her dreams. Held back by the fear of disappointment.
Fashion has always meant a lot to me. I started working at a very young age. I took odd jobs that no one else wanted. Worked in various factories and in questionable conditions. I grew up in a very strict family where academics were at the forefront of every step I took towards my future. Where I felt a lack of control in my own life, I turned to personal style. Self expression is the only thing that kept me sane over the years. Where I felt like I had no voice or freedom in the trajectory of my life, in the classroom, or in the corporate world... I always had control over the way I dressed. My creativity had nowhere else to go in a life where I just had to put my head down and push forward, so it spilled into the way I curated my personal style. Almost unconsciously.
Style is a way of speaking without opening your mouth. It's a stamp to the memory, a first impression. It's establishing your presence when you walk into a room, when you walk into the centerfield of someone's vision, their mind's eye. It speaks for you. It speaks about you. You can use it to tell a story.
I love having the liberty to wake up every morning, a blank canvas—ready to start anew. Ready to pick the story I'm going to tell that day. At some point in my life, it felt like the only liberty I had. Getting ready was my only source of solace.
I know the importance of a simple accessory. Of tucking your shirt in, lacing those boots, dabbing glitter onto your cheeks, braiding your hair... Sometimes these frivolous little details are the way we communicate ourselves to the universe.
I want to capture fragments of my soul, a look is worth a thousand words. I hope to convey the contents of my mind externally in the way I adorn my body. Perhaps you will see this in the things I create.
I learned how to make chokers recently. I spent countless nights researching, working on my branding, and saving up for materials. Why chokers? I wanted to start with the smallest and most feasible thing for me in the moment economically. Baby steps to jump-start reaching for my dreams. I'm starting with chokers but eventually want to make garters, accessories, lingerie, and apparel. I'll be handmaking every piece myself at the moment because that is all I can manage for the time being. At some point, I'd love to design my own clothing and garments through manufacturers—but that's a faraway dream, and this is the first rung on the ladder.
I want to make beautiful things for all the dreamers out there.
With each piece I design and craft, I feel like I am taking back my own power and autonomy over my life. I've never thought to start my own business. I don't really have any experience when it comes to this, but I hope to learn and grow. This is Mokapuff. This is my brand story.
When you put on something I've made for you, I hope you feel beautiful.
It's such a surreal feeling, seeing your daydreams escape the blur your mind. To watch as they creep into reality.
22/2/2 © mokapuff