An interview with Foday Dumbuya, Founder and Creative Director of Labrum London

What’s your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration is my parents, specifically my mum. She taught me everything about how to love people, how to love humans and how to give back and connect with people from a deeper perspective. I also think their way of life and their aesthetic, the way they dress, how they see the world - those are the things that inspire me, because it's so very compassionate to give love.

As you see with the brand, I surround myself with likeminded people that understand the story we try to tell, and championing other people as well. For my parents, those are the things that are in their DNA, and I think those are the things that inspire me to create what I create - this community of Labrum people.

What are you working on at the moment?

I'm working on an array of different projects - the Olympics to SS24 going into store, to a project with Adidas, also sports day, which is something that I'm very passionate about in Sierra Leone. It's about mixing communities and helping communities develop what they have, and helping people find a purpose. The inspiration for the collections has always kind of come from those places.

I am also curating an exhibition at 180 Studios called Designed by an Immigrant. We are putting selected artists and designers together to react to what Designed by an Immigrant means to them.

What do you think the value of a creative education is?

To be honest, when I finished uni, I was in limbo, because I studied Information System Design – which is about how humans interacts with computer interfaces. Once I figured out that fashion was the thing I wanted to get into, I started research into places that I would learn the skills set I need, and LCF was that place. I realised I could do like different short courses that will help me to go into this area of work that I wanted to get into. I think it was very, very helpful to help me direct where I want it to go to.

Firstly, I started doing Pattern Cutting and then also I did another short course focusing on Menswear Design. I think the skillset that I learned from those courses helped me know the path that I wanted to go down. As soon as I finished those, I was lucky enough to have jobs, at the likes of Nike and DKNY, so I think I will advise everyone, if you know what you want to do, I think go and do those courses.

Last year, you won the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design - how has that impacted the brand?

It was one of the highest accolades you could really have in the area of work that we're into, so it has impacted a brand a lot in in certain way. It opened doors to get into places that you probably struggled to get into before, and I think it also propelled the brand to be global. Places like Australia, the USA, Japan, people that never really knew who I was, now know who I am, and know the brand, the aesthetic, and the story that we tell. So, does it make a difference? A huge difference.

We also saw that you were recently the first fashion designer spotlighted in the Bloomberg industry shakers list. What does that kind of recognition mean to you?

Obviously, I never focus on Bloomberg or even on recognition. For me, it's more like, I want to amplify the message that we talk about, like people movement and migration. When that came up, I was like ok, so people in that world, wanting to understand what we do, the way they could support fashion is to understand what we're about. It was really interesting – the reach and the way people connected with the story - I think I was a bit shocked.

It’s making me realise that we can't just be bogged down with this whole need to be on Business of Fashion or need to be on Vogue. Why don't we go and approach it from a different medium? It was really a pivotal moment of the brand.

The Design by an Immigrant slogan is very powerful – why does it resonate so much and at the forefront of your work?

I am an immigrant - I came to this country when I was 12 and I've been here since. Sometimes the language that you hear about immigrants, no one wants to be proud to be an immigrant, because the term is a bit derogatory. The mainstream media make it look like that, and then when something gets repeated over and over on TV, on your radio, it becomes toxic.

What we don’t realise is that immigrants have become part of the fabric of our society, and we don't celebrate the added value that it brings our world. And that's why I thought, you know, what, I'm going to it upon myself and the rest of the people around me to kind of support that narrative of designed by immigrant designers, and people that actually add value to society, so that if we amplify or celebrate the work we do, maybe that negative connotation of being an immigrant might disappear. People might perceive them to be better people that add value to society than just people that take.

You are the inaugural speaker at the London Fashion lecture, which is launching at London College of Fashion this year, without giving too much away, what will you be talking about in your, you know, what can people expect to hear from you?

I think I'm going to probably talk a little bit about my journey and talk about how there is no time limit in terms of how you switch career, in terms of what you want to do, and how you see your world – the world should be oyster. I've learned so much along the way from studying, changing career path, working at Nike, DKNY, starting my own business, and managing a team of people, winning awards, and this kind of thing. I'm going to be talking about what Labrum is about, how it came to existence, our journey with Designed by an Immigrant, people movement, migration, and those things impact our world.

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