CREATIVE DIRECTOR

I am Aliza Kaipainen-Rand, founder and creative director of Pikku Takki, artist and mother of two. Pikku Takki is my third child, coming wherever I go, running wild and growing up together with our family. My lifelong passion for art branched into a zeal for textiles when pursuing my MFA in Performance Photography and Art at UC Berkeley.

Pikku Takki is an opportunity for me to continue making art by working with various artists, designers and artisans on a global scale.  It is an international and collaborative fashion design venture. Inspired by my travels and driven by my immeasurable regard for the diversity of cultural production from around the world, I have always been drawn to how people dress.

As an artist, I have never stopped appreciating and learning from the incredible wealth of human expression in cloth and craft, but most importantly street fashion and the drive to show off one’s clothing as a paradise bird may in nature.

From the Paris chic to the feast of colors in Jakarta, from everyday wear to high fashion, the ways we dress tell exciting tales of an ever-changing interplay of tradition and innovation.

Textiles and designs embody rich cultural exchanges and occasional clashes, revealing deep histories and patterns of circulation, migration, and movement. All of these are stories, expressions and artistic statements that we wear right on our skins.