Who are we? | NAHUA

Nahua, sassy embroidery

Nahua is the result of a meeting between designer Isabelle and an Indian family embroidery workshop with an exceptional know-how that was about to disappear. The idea of combining their unique embroidery technique, traditionally used for clothing, with the creation of jewellery and accessories was born with the aim of saving this workshop from bankruptcy, to preserve and perpetuate its art. Nahua offers a wide range of jewellery with the cuffs and bangles that have made the brand famous, colourful earrings that are ultra light to wear, unique chockers, accessories such as brooches, but also embroidered clutches like jewellery, all in very limited stock to avoid overproduction. It is a choice since the beginning of the adventure, only what will be ordered by the retailers will be produced and few quantities are proposed on the e-shop.

Each accessory is handcrafted using a skilful blend of two ancestral, high-end Indian embroidery techniques: AARI and ZARDOZI embroidery. All materials are carefully chosen to offer a quality product, for a visual and sensory experience.

One can only admire this exceptional work done by men.

At NAHUA, men embroider and women assemble the jewellery. We often like to point out this gender inversion which is normal in this South Asian society.

Designer Isabelle Moya talks about:

What defines Nahua?

Without hesitation, it is the desire to break out of predefined boxes.

It’s a whole creative process based on the senses, imagination with a touch of extravagance; a process that could be described as “unconventional” but which is the very essence of the brand.

Nahua is the insolence, the nose-thumbing to the fashion world in which I worked for 25 years.

This brand has freed me, I finally do what I think is right for my customers, I let my intuition guide my hand on the paper, without any injunction and that changes everything!

But Nahua is above all exceptional pieces, handmade one by one by master craftsmen, without whom I am nothing.

These are beautiful materials such as silk, leather, brass pieces, gold or silver threads and semi-precious stones. So of course, when the craftsmen are precise, and the materials are beautiful, the result is exceptional pieces that I am very proud of.

There is another thing that defines NAHUA, its integrity. I have put in all the ingredients that I felt were missing in the fashion world.

The human aspect is at the heart of my concerns, with the desire to respect the craftsmen and partners.

It is a choice from the beginning of the adventure, 1/3 of the turnover of the brand is for the workshop, for a fair remuneration of the teams and thus to be able to provide a work always qualitative and that in spite of the inflation in India.

I wanted NAHUA with this guideline: sharing, generosity, sense of values, transmission and aestheticism.

I hope that my customers feel this and that they find themselves in my indomitable side. My dearest wish is to see them smile in front of a NAHUA piece and say to themselves: I recognize myself there! ❤️