One of the “Top 10 Emerging Designers in Nashville” actually calls Fairview home! Maarika Mann recently participated in Nashville Fashion Week and her designs were featured in a runway show.


“Nashville Fashion Week was wonderful. I volunteered two years ago to work behind the scenes and have watched Nashville’s fashion world explode over the past two years,” Mann said. “Last October, I decided to apply for the Emerging Designer slot and in January learned my designs were accepted.”


Mann will graduate from O’More College of Design in Franklin in May and says fashion design has long been a passion. “Wearing beautiful clothing is like showing off lovely art, and the more involved I get in the creation process from the organic creation of the fabric down to the innovative stitching techniques, the more I feel that putting together a collection is a purposeful process and an important form of self-expression,” she explained.


Having lived in Fairview for 12 years, Mann finds it an ideal setting for her creative process. “We love our quiet neighborhood, the surrounding peace of the beautiful countryside. I am continually inspired by nature,” she shared. “I run in Bowie almost every day and on my runs, I work out complicated sewing issues in my head.”


She might like to one day expand her business in Fairview. “I work from home right now in a miniscule studio/laundry room,” Mann reported. “I’d love for a bigger space to set up in Fairview where I could eventually work and showcase some items in a retail environment, but I’m not there yet.”


Simple household staples were used as the base of Mann’s technique in her latest collection title “Totem”. “I’ve had many a bleach accident with laundry before, so when I was designing my junior collection last summer, I had a moment of pure joy when I took a piece of black fabric and just painted a botanical print with bleach,” she explained.


“I read about bleach and how different cottons yield different dye leaching durations,” Mann continued. “I read that adding vinegar stops the process, but through experimentations, I saw that it also added another level of reddish color to the golden, cream and yellow tones already displayed on the black fabric.”


Mann sprays or paints the bleach and vinegar on the fabric. “I’m never sure what will happen, but the end result is always very cool,” she added.


With three children at home, the former teacher stays very busy with fashion and family. She also uses her skills to help others. “I work with a non-profit organization called WeAreDAR and this company helps women in Haiti by providing sustainable jobs,” Mann said. “I met founder Martha Montiel through a class at O’More called designing for a cause. I came on board to work with Martha as their Director for Apparel Design two months ago and I believe that all of my experiences that have led me up to this point have a purpose.”


In fact, Mann will go to Haiti this summer to help launch the collection that will manufactured in Haiti. “It allows me to give back to a community of women who otherwise would not have an opportunity to work,” she shared.


With graduation a month away, Mann is finishing up her senior collection and working on designs for her own label, MFPM. She is fully supported by her husband and three children. “My house is always a little over run with projects and we are always so busy!” she exclaimed.


“It hasn’t always been easy, but I am almost done with the schooling part and I feel like I’m in a creative line of work that fits me perfectly,” Mann concluded. “I’ve always been an artist. I paint. I draw. I love making jewelry and I love clothes, so this seemed like a natural progression.”


And as one of Nashville’s Top 10 Emerging Designers, we will certainly be seeing more of Marrika Mann.


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