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JASWANT STOECKLIN
“It wasn't a straight line to success”
Jaswant Stoecklin is a Swiss designer and the founder of her eponymous, luxury shoe brand JASWANT. The double threat, talks to WOTC about bouncing back from adversity and drawing inspiration from her Indian-European heritage.
Photographer Lewis Darling
Make up Makeupby_Shannon
WOTC: Where did it all begin for you?
Jaswant: It's really amazing to be at this point where I am now, but it wasn't a straight line to success at all. Not at all. There were plenty of turns and obstacles. There were bends, there were roadblocks. There were moments I even thought I wouldn't be continuing this a year ago. And so, it was important for me to also mention and emphasise that I didn't come from this ‘Instagram influencer’ side where I decided to create a brand and I had this massive following or had a name to market something easily. I didn't have the connections in the fashion industry to say, ‘OK, I can walk in there and people will take me seriously.’ I did however, have a background in fashion design, in apparel design from a very good school (Rhode Island School of Design in the US) and I still go back to these studies because we learnt to build a collection; to have a cohesive theme behind everything.. so I still draw a lot from that.
I went to trade shows, I went to factories and people said, ‘who are you?’ I had to prove myself. People didn't open doors for me. People really shut doors for me. I had to prove that I was good enough to be the new brand they would work with. The good factories - the high quality factories in Italy usually are booked out with the big brands and they don't really need to work with new designers. It's a privilege if you get to have one of them say, ‘OK we will take the time to work with you.’
I did a lot of research when I had this dream of starting a shoe brand. Then I took the train to Italy with one sketch in my hand. We still laugh today; me and the producer, because we have become close friends now. But I really just came there with one sketch and he looked at me and said, 'well, I need to see more to know what you want to do.' It was really quite a journey from there.
WOTC: And where did the idea come from?
Jaswant: All my experiences I had in various fields surrounding art and architecture, because after my bachelor's degree in the US, I did some work experience in New York. I was very young and felt I was too young to be thrown in there. I keep reflecting on why I decided to move on [at the time]. It was almost that designing came too easy to me. Even though I was recruited by big companies right out of college, it felt like it was almost too easy. I wanted to explore different areas in the art field, so I continued studies in Paris at Parsons.
That was more in photography, fine arts, design marketing and communication design. Later, I worked in art institutions and art galleries here in Switzerland. I worked for an architecture firm and I think that's where I really felt that all of this had created something in me. I wanted to go back to fashion. Looking back, I think all of these different periods of my life formed my visual identity equally. So it was at that moment working in the architecture office - being surrounded by extremely talented people from around the world, that I felt I wanted to do something too and knowing I wasn't an architect (laughs). I realised fashion is really ‘the’ thing. I am a designer at heart. So that's where the idea started. The business took me a little longer to understand. It was a big dream and so I was taking business courses and finding out what it would take to even start.
WOTC: Amazing! And tell us more about the brand.
Jaswant: For me, it was always important that it was going to be a high quality product, and so I chose one of the best factories. It was also important for me to know it was handmade and I was working with the best. I'm very obsessed with details. They (the shoes) have to be perfect to the very smallest detail. I started something that I call my signature style today. It's this clean design you see on one of the slingbacks and this was a little bit of an experiment. It started as a very loose sketch I drew up in a few minutes. A lot of showrooms loved it at the time and said, can you get this done? And it was quite a challenge getting the producers to then translate what I had designed in a simple sketch, but that is always fun and exciting - seeing a sketch being turned into an actual product.
It’s also a process that can take weeks and months, and that was something I had to really learn. I wasn't familiar with the shoe business and the whole industry, so it was really learning through my experience how long this takes; how each process is done; how you do a prototype. You have to correct the prototype several times and do a fitting, then do samples. Maybe you like the sample, maybe not.
I went on from there to explore more contemporary pieces, and expand the selection, because for me it was important I would be able to speak to different consumers and also different personalities. So I created this very sculptural heel - that is my second signature style, the twisted porcelain heel. That also took a while to perfect and get it stable. That really was my second standout piece. I try to also create other styles which are more simple silhouettes, and then I try to use maybe a very extravagant material like the printed python in a reflective optic. I try not to pack everything in one style.
WOTC: And what is your favourite piece?
Jaswant: My favourite piece.. That's a little difficult to say. It would be like choosing one of your kids (laughs). I mean, those two styles I just mentioned, probably.
WOTC: And what are some parting words you have?
Jaswant: I had to really bounce back from a lot of adversities. I had to realise that it might not happen in six months. It might not happen in a year or two, but some day, it will become a reality. That's really what I kept on believing. It was really all about keeping a vision even through the difficult times and the difficult days.
There were some really hard moments; some rough moments; some difficult moments, but to me, it was all worth it because, what I learnt when I hit rock bottom, when things were bad and when I was told to stop everything, is to become completely fearless of failure and business. Fearless of other people's opinions. Fearless regarding taking risks. That was something that I really gained. The difficult moments helped me to leap forward.
This brand is really a reflection of who I am and every detail; my visual identity, my diverse background; which is defined by a lot of contrast of cultures and so many things and different worlds coming together. That's what I try to translate into my work when I create a shoe or a collection. When I mix fabrics or textures, the sense of contrast is always something I think about.