Born on January 6, 1973 in Paradise, Berbice River, Karen Braithwaite is the founder of “Kosmic Vibes” and has made Barbados her permanent home where she operates her business from her garage. Her works include tie-dying, wearable arts, fabric painting, and costume jewellery, among other things.
Karen Braithwaite
Her style is already being appreciated by career women, but her new intriguing line of outfits has sent the love for the trade to a wider spectrum of people.
The mother of three described her new collection, “Shilishai”, as a mixture of fabric with colour coordination.
This talented Guyanese woman intends to take designing to another level.
Recently, she attributed her collection “Shilishai” to her five-year-old daughter.
She explained that her daughter would plunge into her scrap bags and put pieces of cloth together to formulate beautiful collages, similarly to what Braithwaite did when she was a child.
As a child, her mother recognised the hidden potential and encouraged the then 16-year-old to follow up designing as a career. As she grew older, she developed her skill and soon after word spread about this young designer’s ability as a small clientele began to draw on her skills.
She exhibited her first line at the BMEX show and has, under the five years, gained exposure in high profile shows such as Barbados Amateur Model Search, the Mother and Daughter Pageant and in 2009, the Guyana Fashion Weekend.
One of Braithwaite’s designs
Karen Braithwaite has praised the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, the Barbados Youth Business Trust and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation for her tremendous achievement over the years. She designs outfits from small to extra large and her business has been blooming over the years.
The designer, who has had no formal training in her specialty, intends to start college in January pursing a three year course in the designing and creative arts.
Some of her designs include Indian, oriental, Chinese, and Amerindian wear, and she has gotten her inspiration from the six ethnic groups residing in Guyana.
She has also joined forces with her mother, who is into designing jewellery made of natural and flamboyant seeds.
They are in the process of establishing a business at Robb Street, Georgetown.
Braithwaite will soon launch her footwear collection made strictly of genuine leather. She described herself as being creative and spontaneous.
One of her major achievements, which has confirmed that she is appreciated in the small island, is the fact that she was recently selected as the president of the PTA of the school her children attend.
Some of the challenges that she faces on a daily basis include finance, raw materials and market for her products when they are completed. She also noted that another challenge is the fact the Chinese would take pictures of their designs and mass produce them; hence it is being sold at a cheaper rate.
She encouraged young designers to make sure that the finishing touch is marketable, and challenge themselves because they love it and not in it for the financial benefits.
“That will come later,” she noted. She also encourages them to seek a higher end and treat it as a business.
Braithwaite, however, indicated that she was happy to be back in Guyana since it is her country of birth. “Guyana has different energy which I love, and we as designers have to grab those energies in expanding our business.”
