Bangkok, Thailand — Atelier Away From Home

Working on collections is a lot of work — one has to spend a lot of time in the atelier. To work hard but still have adventure, I decided to move my work to Bangkok. Working in a different culture is enriching, and being in an environment where garment production and fabric trade is in full swing — unlike in Germany — simply makes sense. There is so much knowledge and so much to learn.

For two years I had my studio within the office of an Indian entrepreneurial family — a family-run fabric import and export company. Being experts in fabrics, they took the chance to start working in garment production with me. It was a mutual adventure. I learned an enormous amount from them — about organisation, structure, how to manage people, how to run a business with precision and perfectionism. And above all: the spirit of always trying something new, testing, iterating, but doing it properly. That combination of openness and exactness is something I have carried with me ever since.

It was in Bangkok that I developed the first pure menswear collection — and laid the foundation for what A.D.Deertz would become.

A photo from the lookbook of the first collection conceived in Bangkok:

Photo: Felix Brüggemann