Meet the Bangladeshi Born Designer Intent on Keeping the Craft of High-End Weaving Alive

architecturaldigest.com

“Makrosha is the Bangla word for ‘spider,’ ” says the New York City–based, Bangladesh-born designer, explaining the name of her new textiles brand. She relates to the arachnid, or what she calls “nature’s weaver.” Over the course of her career—which included three years as a textiles specialist for the AD100 firm Peter Marino Architect—she has spun a web of expert artisans across the globe, among them the Katu tribe in Laos, who entwine beads in their threads, and West African craftspeople who work wonders with cotton and raffia. This past January she launched her own collection of super-luxurious fabrics, produced in Senegal, Laos, Nepal, India, England, and France. They range from a fantastical, hand-embroidered pattern based on 17th-century French silks to a shimmery, raspberry-hued ombré. Her mostly-to-the-trade business, which she’s operated from a Berkshires barn (pictured) during the pandemic, also includes vintage finds and the work of Aissa Dione, a Senegalese master weaver. Ahmed, who studied fashion and textile history and conservation at the Fashion Institute of Technology, is intent on keeping traditions alive: “There’s only a handful of people in the world who can do high-end hand weaving,” she says. “My goal is to prevent that craft from vanishing.”