Hackett’s kingdom style

JAMES HACKETT, who started off as a graphic designer and illustrator in local newspapers, is forging another path, with an eye on fashion.

The 39-year-old Hackett told Newsday: “Right now I have a few major projects that I am working on for Lush Kingdom, some of which I cannot speak about just yet, but will be very cool as we get into Christmas and 2019.”

However, he has revealed that for Carnival 2019, two section leaders in the Lost Tribe mas band have approached him to produce footwear from his Lush Kingdom designs. Those sections are Dastkaar and Shaayari.

Hackett, who grew up in Belmont with his mother, who worked as a maid and a baker, and father, who worked in the shipping industry until his death earlier in the decade.

Now working out of his home studio in El Dorado, Hackett said he was a Trinity College, Moka boy who studied graphic design and fashion design at the John Donaldson Technical Institute, both before and after it became part of the
University of Trinidad and Tobago.

"At the moment I do a lot of items from clothing to home decor, swimsuits to shoes. It's just cool things I find to put prints on really. It is an endeavour largely driven by fun that for now is fun for those that buy what I am creating. Right now Lush Kingdom is keenly focused on print design that is created by myself. For now this is a sideline gig which in terms of the development is a collaborative effort with Kirk Langton. I engage a number of different people from time to time depending on the project. But for now, it's just prints."

Hackett explained that Lush Kingdom is his attempt at using design to make ordinary items and clothing. "We use colour with an infusion of print and design inspired by Caribbean life for the mid-career modern woman who likes creative things. The idea for Lush Kingdom started in 2012 when walking home one day and enjoying just being alive in Trinidad and have a remarkable view of the Northern Range."

Over the last year, the Lush Kingdom range was sold through several pop-up shops, mainly at the Fashion Arch series of Pop up and ThingsTT.

Hackett explained: "Fashion Arch hosts several pop up shops during the year and ThingTT is another. Both can be found on Facebook. I have been a vendor at both of their events over the last year.

"Also, there are some Lush items at Blue Basin Stores in the Cruise Ship Complex," he added. "I sell on my online store, where I get a couple sales for my products here and there: it is www.thelushkingdom.com."

Asked about the challenges he has faced in local fashion, he said: "The local industry is still quite young, but many passionate designers and people who service them are developing into something better. It's still quite slow at the moment, but I think there's still too much of a reliance on showcase (rather) than business development.

"The challenges right now are just a few structural things to make the business ready to scale and funding, but I believe some of that can be accessed over time. We are still super-bureaucratic here, and it is killing the entry of a lot of micro- and smaller enterprises' chances of legitimately entering the industry."

He added that Robert Young's The Cloth continues to be an inspiration to him, and also: "I like what RisAnne is doing with her Brown Cotton brand.

"I just enjoy culture and soaking up stories and design, from Carnival locally to film, movies animation and pop culture from America to Asia."

Hackett collaborates frequently with producers Detnator Entertainment, a creative media company specialising in music, and his peers in a creative design company called Zigwa.

Asked if he does fashion shows he responded: "I don't do fashion shows, I hardly have items to display a full collection most times and putting on a fashion show is usually costly for me because I don't have extra samples and I have to get everything dry-cleaned later on. My items are made when ordered so I don't really have an inventory. I prefer to be in fashion events that are focused on business and less of a showcase. I have had enough of those."

Hackett describes himself as a designer exploring his own blend of inspired illustration/design and fashion.

“I like being a Caribbean native, I like designing and I like creating. I also think we can make our experiences much more pleasant and useful through better design. There is a lot of opportunity for this in the Caribbean still.”

Hackett will be at Bead Cafe on Mucurapo Road for December and will interact with people who want to know what's next for Lush Kingdom.