Eden: Emerge

We, Ashaki, called our first collection Eden: Arrival because we were in the Garden. New, hopeful and full of promise. We believe Eve and Adam, alone or together, ate the apple, and that this life is a gift. There was no original sin.

Our second collection is about what happens next. Living in this world, with all its beauty, suffering and possibility.

It is called Eden: Emerge.

We invite you to emerge as you are, as the ancients and mystics have long invited us to do. After waking comes acceptance. And somewhere within acceptance is the understanding that serving yourself fully can become an act of service to others.

To care for the life you have been given. To discover what grows within you and allow that abundance to find its way into the world.

The first is the Cherry Blossom.

Cherry blossoms saved my life, and yes, in that most dramatic sense.

In the depths of childhood hardship, my mind would sway towards the blossoms that bloomed once a year. Their delicate dance when light touched them. So many shades of pink, luminous, mysterious, ethereal.

Then the petals would fall, dancing in the breeze. A bittersweet moment. Resplendent, delicate and beloved.

Their return, year after year, helped me keep going. They taught me about impermanence. About loving what is here, knowing it will change.

Our second flower is the Water Iris.

She is reckless, abundant and invasive, known as “the terror”. She knows her worth and spreads without apology. 

I love her audacity. Her willingness to grow towards whatever life she can find. The part of us that longs to explore, to take up space.

And I am equally fascinated by the Cherry Blossom, which offers all its beauty so freely, only to let it fall.

I am learning to live between these two ways of being.

There are places that call to you. Go towards them when you can. Sometimes the journey is a leap. Sometimes it is a small movement between responsibilities, a longing carried quietly until life gives you room.

My own life has never followed a particularly sensible line.

I began as a podiatrist. Then came an entertainment magazine, baby brain development, technology writing and executive coaching. I built a life and family alongside my husband as we built Mercury. Three children, one a miracle, a new country, and eventually a fashion house.

Since Ashaki, curiosity has taken me into AI filmmaking, music, ancient scripture, physics, documentary work, politics and large-scale art.

On paper, none of it makes much sense.

I was a girl raised on welfare who married a boy raised on welfare. Somehow, I kept following whatever my soul pulled me towards.

Today I live in an ease that girl could hardly have imagined. I am grateful for the freedom it affords me, to explore, to risk failure, to begin again. Financial security, time and support make an enormous difference.

My greatest privilege is Immad. My tether. My safe, steady road home. Accepting of my possibilities, celebrating every step, holding me when I doubt myself. Staying up late to code our website so we can launch.

All around me, people are navigating life's challenges. Making ends meet. Carrying grief, illness, responsibility, loneliness or fear. So much of what we carry is invisible. There is so much hurt and anger in this world, and much of it has reason. 

And I keep coming back to something.

We have an inner knowing. An understanding of what we need, the truths we avoid, the changes we long to make. When I refuse to listen to myself, I have felt that silence turn into pain and anger.

Much of suffering comes from circumstances beyond our control. There are burdens courage alone cannot lift. This is why we need each other.

And sometimes we know the next thing we need to do, and are afraid.

Find the courage
to do the hard thing.

Sometimes it is getting into the shower when the day feels impossible.

Sometimes it is giving yourself permission to love yourself as a mother, even when you have not been as perfect as you hoped.

Other times its to know, self-service has become scared, and needs to calibrate back to, love, not control or power. 

Sometimes it is asking for help. Having the conversation. Resting. Beginning again.

I used to think I had never known depression. The truth is, I had spent most of my life inside it. It was so familiar that I mistook it for life itself. I had never really known joy.

Finding my way out began with one movement towards myself, however small, and then another.

Now, finally free, I know what ease feels like. I wish that freedom, that joy, for everyone. For me, trying became easier to sustain when it was tied to service.

I would never berate my children for trying and failing. I would be proud of them for exploring and beginning again. So I offer myself the same grace, and ask you to offer it to yourself. Be your own loving parent. Let your mind become a peaceful temple.

There has never been one box that I fit into. Perhaps there does not need to be one for you either.

Follow your inner knowings. Follow the strange longings that keep returning.

Try things. Make things. Change your mind.

Love yourself through the process.

I believe the moral arc of the universe bends towards goodness. I am, perhaps stubbornly, an optimist. We have to hope.

Belief alone does not build reality. Creation does.

And creation takes many forms. An idea. A kindness. A home. A piece of art. A life rebuilt. The daily work of keeping something or someone alive.

Even physics reminds us that what seems still is alive with motion and interaction at scales our eyes cannot see. I wonder how much of our own becoming is invisible too.

The quiet changes. The private battles. The things we become before the world notices.

And so I choose action and motion. I make things. I leave space for serendipity.

But increasingly, I think about what we might create together.

We already have so many skills, tools and resources that could ease one another's lives. They are unevenly distributed. Imagine what sharing them could make possible.

If you are in abundance, give yourself back.

Your time, knowledge, resources, attention. Whatever you have the capacity to offer. I include myself in this invitation.

And if you are suffering, I hope there are hands reaching towards you. I hope asking for help can be met with care.

Let's do the hard things. For ourselves and each other.

Perhaps if we meet with openness, understanding might become trust. And trust might give us the courage to do what feels impossible alone.

To collaborate. To create. To find another way.

Eden is the middle way.

A place where we can be different and still belong. Where our beauty, beliefs, experiences and ambitions exist together, distinct and yet cohesive. Where we can acknowledge our hurt and anger, and still reach towards one another.

Perhaps Eden is something we can build between us.

I want to live between these ways of being. Between ambition and acceptance. Between growing and caring for what surrounds us.

With Eden: Emerge, we invite you to explore that balance for yourself.

We have designed this collection to live with the Ashaki pieces you already own. Wear them. Repair them. Layer them differently. Bring them back next season and the season after that.

We offer repairs for life because we treasure what we make. We recognize our desire for new beauty and our responsibility to consume less of it. We want pieces that gather memories and return to you year after year.

Lily and I designed this collection from our souls. Our artisans in India brought it into being by hand.

And we listened to you.

More pant sets. More scarves. More dresses. Textures chosen with the body in mind. Garlands that detach so you can decide, on any particular day, how much space you would like to take up.

Our pieces are made to live together, worn and reimagined through the seasons of your life.

More surprises are coming as we release the collection slowly over the next few months.

If you would like to see them, subscribe to our emails. We do not spam. We are mindful of your time because it may be the most precious thing, outside of each other, we have.

I hope that somewhere along the way, we meet.

Open to connection. Curious about one another. Willing to imagine what we might make together.

Perhaps we will meet in Eden, somewhere along that middle road.

Celebrate your ambition.

Your growth.

Your hopes and your prayers.

Loudly.

Wear your becoming.

Emerge.

With heartfelt love,

Fatema

Founder, Mother, Wife, Friend.