Featured tufted rugs is collaboration pieces of two Kota Kinabalu based artisans, Pieja of Kaino Studio and Frida of Kakamot. Here's a quick info of the collab project :
Who is Kaino Studio? Kaino Studio was founded in 2019 by Pieja @ Faezah Saddi, a self taught artist. While venturing into music and filming, she created Kaino Studio as a side project. It all begin with a research trip that triggered her passion for weaving and tufting.
Pieja of Kaino Studio. Kaino or Kanoh means 'come' in Dusunic language and 'mari' in Malay.
Check out their tufting workshop in Instagram @kaino_studio
How did the collab begin? Long story short, Pieja invited Frida & Adam (Maker & Designers for Kakamot) over to Kaino Studio for a tufting session. Coincidently weeks before, Frida has been researching about tufting - the very next thing she wanted to experiment with for her brand. Destiny brought them together and started talking about collaboration project ever since!
L - R : Adam, Frida & Pieja What makes this collab product unique? First, it's locally designed and produced which highlight both artists' talents and skills. Second, the selected designs is a visual effort to educate and spread awareness to the public about Borneo's endangered flora and fauna. Lastly, collab products are usually one-offs and/or in limited numbers. Such pieces are highly appreciated and sought after in the artisan market scene -- the perfect place to showcase these unique pieces!
How do you pick the design? Is there anything in particular that inspires the collaboration? The designs were picked based on Kakamot's best-sellers plushie which then Frida would like to recreate it in tufted rugs form. When Frida proposed the designs for the collab project, Pieja is super excited to challenge herself to recreate the designs using her tufting skills and experience. Basically, no local artisan has produce & showcase original design of tufted piece in Kota Kinabalu artisan market before, which inspires the collaboration project.
