Meet Queen Amina

We had the good fortune of connecting with Queen Amina and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Queen Amina, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind my growing success is my ability to fluidly shift through creative directions, as it allows me to merge various ideas, techniques and visions all into physical creations. The variations in the many creative fields out there mirror different worlds, each having their own particular rules and expectations and that adaptability helps one easily blend and thrive wherever they choose to go.

Now, more than ever, when I come across a roadblock, instead of becoming to hyper focused on the issue, it’s easier for me to shift, redirect and bring a fresh perspective on how to solve or overcome the problem at hand. Almost as if I have this toolbox that I’ve accumulated overtime, where at any moment I can reach in and pull out exactly what I need for whatever project I’m working on or challenge I’ve come across. Mixing ideas from different mediums always lead me to creating the most interesting and coolest ideas, whether it was a creative vision or a physical design.

I am excited to continue this journey just from the simple fact that I am entering a new industry, and gaining fresh knowledge. Given that I get to merge all of that with the energy of everything else I’ve creatively accomplished overtime is so beneficial in itself, allowing me to become a true chameleon.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I create by sculpting unconventional items into garments that the everyday person wouldn’t normally wake up and choose to wear on their day out. A more so Avant-Garde approach to design and vision. What I am most excited about is the work that I am preparing to produce on a wide scale, the projects and collaborations I will soon dive into that will truly allow me to fully exercise things I’ve only dreamed about. To speak on how I realize that this road was ultimately, the best choice for me, the one that feels the most right, I needed to reevaluate how I looked at myself as a creative entirely. After fully becoming involved with artwork and paintings, I slowly began to lose my initial connection with it, I was often still left dissatisfied and half full with each piece completed, I was still sourcing inspiration and ideas from visions that had no correlation to the work I was creating.

All of this was slowly causing a rift between me and my artwork, to where I needed to have a real one-on-one moment with myself and ask if I’m doing this because I genuinely like to, or if I’m doing this because I feel I need to. Am I beginning to paint this facade right in front of myself? Am I settling? Am I too nervous to fully dive into what I’m truly passionate about? All of these questions began to swirl and that’s when I knew, change needed to happen, that redirection was so important for me and my craft. The most important lesson that I have learned so far is that your vision will only truly become clear when you decide to look further inside of yourself; those who look outside tend to dream, and those who look within, awaken.

Stepping foot into this industry, I want others to see and truly understand that I am innovating what was once innovative in its time. Taking inspiration from true classics and antique vintage visions, further making them more compatible in the now, while still bringing that nostalgia.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Pierre Cardin: Fifty Years of Fashion and Design

Website: https://qayael.com/

Instagram: https://qayael.com/

Other: https://tumblr.com/qayael

Image Credits
@beigecapmedia credits for the personal photo.