CRAFTING his way to establish a dynamic and evolving fashion industry in Davao City, this man, one of the prime movers of the local fashion industry proved how passion and business can come as one.
This young, professional and renowned fashion designer in Davao City, Jun Artajo, now turned into a budding businessman as he decided to be one of the pillars of the newest lifestyle retail store in the city, the Nomads Davao.
“We (with his co-designers) want to level up the fashion industry here, long before we already dream of producing local designs from our city especially now that Davao City is slowly catching up with the trends of fashion,” he said.
The Nomads Davao, that has opened last February 7 at the 2nd Level of SM Lanang Premier is a first-of-its-kind concept in the city wherein a lifestyle retail store will host local and homegrown brands created by 11 young and dynamic designers with a vision of elevating the city’s fashion scene by providing the market an access to curated and unique, fresh, edgy designs and products.
“There is good business here, but of course it takes a lot of guts and effort to come to this but everything is worth it,” the rising designer said.
“This is a collaborative effort of Davao designers, and with Nomads, finally aspirational fashion destination for the discerning Davaoeños in now paved and there will be a venue for designers to showcase their retail side and make their products readily available to the shopping community,” he said adding that it offers a wide range of local brands in menswear, women’s wear, accessories, catering to both formal and casual segments.
Proving his potential in fashion, Artajo after graduating from his Bachelor of Fine Arts in fashion design in 2010 in the Philippine Women’s College (PWC) of Davao, had been featured and represented the country to various national and international fashion events including the 49th Japan fashion design contest in Tokyo, Japan last 2011 where he bagged 2nd place among 48 finalist internationally and a special award from the Japanese-based fashion newspaper Senken Shimbun, 2012 and 2013’s Manila Fame, and 1st Alaska fashion week held in Dena’ina Civic Center, Anchorage, Alaska, USA.
In 2014, he was one of the six designers who showcased authentic Filipino artisanal in the 3rd International Fashion Showcase in time with the London Fashion Week in 180 Strand, London organized by the British Fashion Council.
“We hope to sustain and make Nomads Davao an established collective brand of Davao’s very own designers, there is still a wide space of room for growth in the fashion industry here and we want to be part of that,” Artajo said.
Proving that passion and business can co-exist, Artajo’s way of fulfilling his dreams is indeed any young man’s inspiration.