18 APRIL 24 APRIL 2011

THE BUDAPEST TIMES

CULTURE

That extra something

Designers in Hungary
Part VIII:
Sandra Sndor & her
label Nanushka
he light and airy shop tucked away
near Castle Hill in Buda makes
visitors want to linger and browse
through the many and varied items
of clothing thanks to its friendly
atmosphere. This is the home of designer Sandra
Sndors label Nanushka. Despite being busy
renovating the shop and designing clothes, she
was happy to make time to talk about fashion, her
inspirations and life abroad.

How did you get involved in fashion design?

Somehow through my mother, who worked with
childrens clothing. It wasnt immediately clear
that it was what I wanted to do. It developed with
time. Im not a classic designer. I was even bad at
drawing but in middle school I decided to give it
a go. As I child I attended an American school in
Portugal, and, as it was possible for me to study
abroad, thats what I decided to do. I studied for
four years at the London College of Fashion and
graduated in 2006.
And what happened after that?
Things moved very fast. I developed my 2006
degree project, Spring Summer SS2006, further
and made it into a collection. An American
distributor saw my work and took on the label.
He now represents me at ten shops in the USA
and ensures that there is big demand for my
designs.
How would you describe your style?

How do you put a new collection together?

The inspiration can come from many different
sources. I design the clothes together with my
colleague Eszter, but my other eight colleagues
collect ideas on our many journeys, take photos,
leaf through old fashion books, look on the
internet, read fashion blogs and go to fabric
exhibitions. That results in something. Then we
think about how many coats, skirts, tops,
etcetera we need, establish the motifs, look for
the right fabrics and bring it all together.
Basically its teamwork.
Are your collections based on a certain theme?
No, not really. There are recurrent motifs which
we carry over from popular pieces but there is
no common theme. I would find a single theme
much too boring. My clothes are very varied
and appeal to a lot of different people.
Generally there are several motifs that
recur rather than one characteristic
motif. It is also a greater challenge to
work with several guiding ideas.

and Asia. I hope that in the future we will

be able to conquer the markets of some
more countries. I would like to be present
everywhere. Ive had a website right from
the start and soon it will be possible to
order online. Perhaps that will make it
easier to break into the European market.
How long has the shop been open?
Since the beginning in 2006. And this is
our first renovation (laughs). Previously
the shop was darker with less display
space because we also worked here.
Now we work in a side room. Its really
great now: light and friendly.
Do you have many customers who simply
come across your shop by chance or are most
people looking for it specifically?

How many copies do you produce of the

clothes in each collection? Do you also make
one-off pieces?
We make between 50 and 250 of each
piece in the collection, differing in size
and colour. Since, as I mentioned, the
USA is an important customer, we have
sizes from XS to XL. At the start we also
made from two to ten one-off pieces but
we no longer have time for that.
And what about Europe?
Unfortunately there still isnt a single shop
selling only our clothes. Our clothes are,
however, sold in designer shops in Japan,
Canada, France, Italy and Russia. At the
moment we are mainly present in larger
regions such as the USA, the Middle East

We have both kinds of customers. We advertise

in international trade periodicals and magazines. They are read by tourists who visit the
shop and mostly buy something. But there are
still more Hungarians than foreigners.
Generally they are aged between 25 and 30.
Nanushka clothes are also sold in other shops in
Budapest such as RetrockDeluxe, Mono and
MyDay. That enables us to reach more people.
What is the secret of your success?
Its difficult to say exactly. Perhaps its because,
coming from Budapest, we are regarded as
something of a curiosity. A Hungarian label is
something a bit different. But I might be
wrong about that. In any case it isnt a
problem that we are Hungarians. I think we
can compete on equal terms internationally.
What does fashion mean to you?

It has four main aspects or pillars, so to

speak: comfort, functionality, playfulness and
tradition. I based my degree project on those
and in a certain way such elements run
through all my collections. They blend and
change somewhat but they are always visibly
there. At the moment we are using ethno and
folk elements in the new collection.

Design and fashion is an expression of courage,

self-confidence and taste for me. Its a medium
that shows who and what I am.
Ines Gruber

And how is that expressed in your designs and

materials?
We use a lot of contrasts. For example, we
make a jacket from cotton, play with the cut
and try to make it a little unconventional. We
reference traditions, while playfulness gives
the piece of clothing that extra something.
Comfort and functionality are very important
to me personally. People should feel good in
their clothes. Thats why we tend to use
natural fibres: cotton, linen and silk or
modern active-wear fabrics, which are
synthetic but comfortable to wear because of
small breathing holes in the material.

About Sandra Sndor

Sandra Sndor (right) graduated from the
London College of Fashion in 2006, specialising in fashion design and technology. In the
same year she won the Fashion Award Hungary
for best young designer of the year. That was
followed by the Ernst and Young promise of
the future award in 2008 and the Glamor
award for woman of the year in 2009. Sndor
takes part twice a year in the Train Show and
Coterie in New York.
Nanushka
District I, Csnak utca 9
Tel. (06-1) 202-1050
Open Monday to Friday
from 10am to 6pm.
Closed at weekends.
www.nanushka.hu

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