By KARI MUTU

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Growing up in Kenya, Priya Shah spent a lot of time outdoors, going to national parks and camping. This triggered a passion for conservation that inspired her business, a niche clothing store called Mia Kora.

The shop specialises in artisan scarves and jewellery with designs influenced by nature. “I thought, if I’m going to do something it is going to give back to wildlife,” says Priya who now lives in the UK.

Mia Kora sells shawls that feature animal prints, floral images and abstract patterns. “It’s a versatile accessory because there are no limitations as to who can wear them and they are also great for travel,” she said.

Her shawls have a smooth texture and they are wide enough to wrap around like a sarong. Her jewellery includes necklaces and chokers.

While she was in Kenya she painted mostly wildlife and nature and would earn commissions. She also worked at the MatBronze Art Gallery and Foundry in Nairobi.

When Priya first moved to Britain 13 years ago, her paintings took a back seat partly because of the pressure of the art scene there.

“There are so many artists here and I could not keep coming back home, so it was hard to survive,” she said. However, she turned her creativity to textiles and six years ago, started experimenting with putting art onto scarves.

A Mia Kora scarf featuring a print of wildlife. PHOTO | COURTESY

Each year she travels to Kenya to visit family, but also to spend time in the bush sketching and getting new ideas. Priya paints whatever comes to mind saying, “sometimes it works as a scarf, sometimes it does not.” Her paintings are done on canvas, scanned at very high resolution and then digitally printed onto the fabric.

In the beginning of the business, Priya spent a year researching and testing materials for their suitability, and decided to partner with digital printers in India.

“They are the cream of the crop in fabrics,” said Priya who has a degree in Textiles and Design from the Winchester School of Art at University of Southampton in the UK.

Her business only uses ethically-sourced natural or synthetic fibres like poly butter silk, cotton, cashmere or modal, a type of cotton made from beechwood tree fibre.

“They are the most conducive to digital printing and give the best results,” she said. Currently, she also manufactures her own fabrics out of butter silk, cashmere, cotton and modal to get the high-quality materials she wants.

As the business has grown, Priya has partnered with several well-established wildlife painters to expand the designs on offer. In addition to scarves for men and women, the artistic fabrics can be turned into cushion covers, tote bags or decorative wall hangings.

It is quite costly to convert a painting into a fashion item or wall hanging so it is a tough act balancing creativity and commercial viability. Not all paintings translate into practical items.

Mia Kora is purely an online store that offers global shipping and has a network of agents in different countries that provide personalised customer service. Their scarves are also stocked in several hotels in Kenya and Tanzania including Ole Sereni, Giraffe Manor, Bateleur Camp, Kichwa Tembo, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, and Lake Manyara Tree Lodge.

Conservation is never far from Priya’s mind, whether is it sending messages through wearable art or raising funds for conservation work. Every year she visits the Kenyan projects they support, which benefit wildlife and local communities.