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

Hi Lee, what do you attribute your success to?
I feel that the most important factor behind my success is my family’s and my husband’s unconditionally support. they always support and encourage me to go after my dreams. knowing they will always help me and be there for me is giving me so much confidence doing what I love.

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 am Lee Kodo, the founder and CEO of Lee Kodo’S Bridal Studio in Kochav Michael, Israel. My wedding gown design mission is to make comfortable, chic, effortless silhouettes that celebrates the feminine figure and make my beautiful brides look at their best. I started Lee Kodo in 2013 after graduating “Shenkar”- Israel’s College of Design & Engineering, believing that I’m bringing new style to the brides world. the stylish cool fit is the most important part of my dresses. I get inspiration from my childhood memories in the KIBUTZ in the South of Israel, Musicians and fashion Icons that I love, Fabrics and basically from every little thing that around me. I create clothes that reflects my soul and feelings in a certain moment, This way I make sure that my designs are unique and original. In my personal life I always wear Black , heavy jewelries and accessories. Since wedding gowns are all about white, when it comes to styling in photoshoots you can always spot glimpse of blackness or heavy jewelries that I put in it. My new collection was created during this year of pandemic, It was such a hard year because all weddings were put on hold and the wedding industry in Israel was basically shutdown. for me it was horrible year mentally.. the only thing that kept me sane was designing and sewing crazy clothes.. for example: I had this very low few days, the quarantine felt like it’s never going to end.. I felt stuck and sad, so I decided to create a dress for myself that will cheer me up and will make me feel like a beautiful Peacock. I made a dress with huge sleeves decorated with pompoms, the back of the dress is longer than the front and looks like a Peacock tail. I also made a big beautiful collar decorated with tulle pieces. I was sooo proud of this creation.. it made me happy and full of inspiration for the rest of the Collection.. suddenly I had so many ideas and my passion came back to me.. I think this is what being an artist feels like.. that your art and creation gives you life and hope.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting the area I would probably invite him/her to my house first. my husband and I love to host and have friend over to our home in the Moshav (small village). we will make an amazing dinner together using herbs and vegetables from my garden, have some beers and great music and talk into the early morning hours. after a day or two we will rent an appartment in Florentine neighborhood in Tel Aviv. for me it’s like a second home, it has the best restaurants, best bars and the best people to hangout with. we will take a walk around the neighborhood streets to watch the graffiti of the best artists in the world and in Israel such as #TAG, DEDE, Roa, Miss Vaan and more. we will go to a friend’s roof party and just live the moment.. we will explore the streets of old city of Jaffa, Neve Tzedek street and we will go to Geula beach. this would be the ultimate vacation for my best friend.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
other than my family members that support me no matter what, comes the people that have give me great inspiration along the way, such as my Mentor and teacher in Shenkar college: Idit Barak, she taught me everything I need to know about fashion design, developing a concept and creating clothes that have a meaning. she was the one who build my confidence being a good designer. Idit is the sharpest women I know, she always took me to the next level during my four years of studying Fashion design in Shenkar College.

Website: www.leekodo.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/leekodo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leekodolee

Image Credits
Alon Gruber, Noa Papi Kedmi, Lior Rotstein

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