Eric Raisina starts with fabric

Eric Raisina is a fashion designer with a difference. He begins with the fabric, not with the sketch of a design. This is not fabric that he is buying but making. From thread. 

Originally from Madagascar, trained in Paris and now based in Cambodia, Raisina has built an unusually self-contained fashion practice around textile and textile arts - notably silk, raffia, weaving, crochet. He has done this in a career that has spanned decades. 

In his workshop, he begins with thread and his fabric of choice is usually silk. It is dyed, woven, embroidered and otherwise manipulated until it becomes a fabric that gets to the cutting table. Raisina describes the process as quite literally working “from A to Z”. Fabric is his signature. His education and working method place textile at the centre of the business. As he stated when speaking to African Runways at the Galleries Lafayette in Paris, “Eric Raisina [the brand], is all about texture, all about textile, all about everything you could imagine about fabrics”

MADAGASCAR

Born in Madagascar, Raisina began sewing when he was young. In an interview with South China Morning Post, he recalled having a sewing machine as a boy and eventually making shirts for himself, his family and friends. He made so many that it gave him a deep understanding of patterning and sewing. He presented his first collection in Madagascar in 1993, at the age of 20 and won the Young Designer of the Year prize at a fashion and textile competition.

PARIS

The award brought a scholarship to Paris, where he studied Textile and Fashion at the Ecole des arts Appliqués Duperré. He later completed a Masters’ Degree in Textile and Fashion at the Institute of Français de la Mode. He studied fashion but concentrated on textile. Raisina said to African Runways “I am not a typical fashion designer who spends more time on sketches.”

His textile work attracted attention in Paris. After graduation, he got appointments very quickly and was able to design fabrics with luxury houses like Yves Saint Laurent, collaborate with Christian Lacroix and Dior. What interested them, Raisina says, were his fabrics and textile samples. 

CAMBODIA

Eric Raisina first travelled to Cambodia in 1996 after learning about the country’s handwoven silk. He returned there in 2001, worked on a silk farm in Siem Reap until 2004 then spent roughly a year assembling his own team. In 2005, he opened his Villa -Boutique Workshop. 

Raisina became interested in Cambodian silk. How it is traditionally woven, how it behaves and how far he could alter it. He experimented with it alongside other materials. 

His atelier in Siem Reap is where his brand has blossomed. Raisina has trained weavers, sewers and embroiderers. He has continued researching textures, colors and weave patterns. He has described Cambodia as particularly conducive to his working process, while Madagascar remains foundational to his visual language. 

ERIC RAISINA'S TEXTILES

Some of his best-known develpopments include “Silk Fur”, made from silk organza and “Raffia Lace” produced from natural raffia. The names bear a story of transformation from their usual state. Silk which is usually fluid and smooth becomes dense, tactile and almost furry. Raffia can become open, delicate and lace-like. Raisina’s savoir-faire with textile shines through with even these two examples.

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Color is also something he is known for, with colors like orange, fuschia, purple, green, turquoise and red appearing repeatedly in his collections. “I grew up with the flamboyant and vivid colors of the Indian Ocean and the luxuriant tropical landscapes of Madagascar” he told Grantourismo when discussing his lean towards intense color. 

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SLOW FASHION

A customer buying a Raisina piece is one that understands and wants to purchase garments that slowly came to be. 

“It is a bit slow,” Raisina says of his process. However, he knows that his niche prefers that he invests the time rather than go the way of mass-manufactured clothing. 

"There’s a client who really understands the value of handmade, the value of slow fashion,” he says. This would explain why Raisina has resisted one of the pressures placed on independent fashion houses: constant novelty. 

“What I am doing is not about the trends,” he says. “I cannot follow the trends. It goes too fast.”

As a menswear and womenswear designer, he also offers accessories - shawls, scarves, wraps and bags which can function with other pieces his customers already have in their wardrobe. Customers can buy a Raisina piece, and thus own his widely acclaimed fabric without necessarily buying a full outfit. To

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All photos supplied by Eric Raisina.

To purchase, contact them directly by email at info@ericraisina.com or via Instagram