Article: The Story Behind Mookaite
The Story Behind Mookaite
“A conversation between Jarina and Ana”
-Jarina
I remember that meeting vividly.
Ana had come to meet me in a professional context, around a potential role within my language school.
And yet, it didn’t remain purely professional for long. The conversation naturally shifted towards what truly interested us, what drew us in, what we were each searching for.
There was something immediate - not only in the quality of her drawings, but in their abundance. So many ideas, so much potential, and yet they remained untouched. It stayed long after we said goodbye.
At the time, moving forward wasn’t an option. It was the beginning of COVID, and the business needed stability, not expansion. We chose not to take it further.
And yet, something stayed with me.
Long after that meeting, I found myself returning to it, to the potential I had seen, and to the feeling that there was something more there, not yet defined.
For some time, there had already been a quiet desire to create something different, something more closely connected to creativity, to form, to expression. Scarves had always been present, though never in any deliberate way. What drew my attention was not the object itself, but the possibility behind it, the intersection of fashion, art, and meaning.
After a period of reflection, the idea of starting something new began to feel not only appealing, but necessary.
A few months later, in February 2020, I called Ana, without a clear plan, only an intuition worth following.
Everything was beginning to close. We met outside, in the cold air of early lockdown, with a thermos of coffee and a single scarf she had made.
There was no agenda. Only conversation.
- Ana
When Jarina called, I was surprised.
The expectation had been that the previous chapter was closed. And yet, something shifted almost immediately.
There was a shared feeling of having reached a certain point, of wanting something more aligned, more personal, more meaningful. The structure of the corporate world no longer held the same appeal. The desire to create, to build something rooted in passion, was stronger.
That conversation became the beginning of Mookaite.
From the start, there was a natural balance.
I brought an instinctive understanding of colour, repetition, and visual rhythm - a creative energy that felt immediate and intuitive. Jarina brought structure, a background in fashion design and production, and the ability to transform ideas into something tangible.
One imagined. The other built.
Both carried discipline, persistence, and a shared belief that something could emerge from this meeting point.
At first, it was not the patterns themselves that convinced us.
It was what they could become.
The conversation deepened into our shared values, aesthetics, what draws people in, and what holds meaning. Slowly, a direction began to take shape.
Finding a voice was not immediate. It required time, exploration, and intention.
Mookaite was never meant to be simply about patterns on fabric.
It became something more, a reflection of emotion, of story, and of the invisible thread between creation and expression.
Today, when we wear these scarves, we don’t see them as products.
We see what has been built, what has been shared, what has taken shape over time.
There is a quiet recognition in that, something personal, something lasting.