Eco-conscious brand, Nuun Concept Space, is championing a circular fashion economy

Article published in GQ SA, October 2022

Mother and son duo Zainab and Shaheed Martin are the visionaries behind nuun concept space, an eco-conscious fashion brand founded as a dialogue between family and informed by their rich cultural heritage and deep lineage.

Much like their creations, the process of forming Nuun was organic. Zainab began designing abayas (long cloaks worn by women of the Islamic faith), which she sold in stores in the Middle East. Then, Shaheed, who has a degree in Architecture, began offering his design advice. Since then, their brand has evolved into an abstract platform to explore innovative garment construction and eco-conscious textiles. At the heart of Nuun lies sustainability and essentialism. The duo aims to transcend fixed labels and preconceived notions. Each garment is gender-fluid, and you can wear them in various ways. Recently, they’ve garnered attention for their experimentation with homemade bioplastics. They make their own water-soluble packaging from plant-based material, which, once dissolved, leaves behind nutrient-rich water that nourishes the environment.    

Shaheed chats to GQ about the essence of Nuun and its approach to a circular economy.

GQ: You refer to your brand as a concept space. What do you mean by this?

Shaheed Martin: In a literal sense, Nuun is a ‘space’ to develop concepts. Space, in this instance, also hints at our future intention of venturing into spatial design, as my background is in architecture. 

GQ: What does Nuun stand for? What is the brand’s ethos? 

SM: Nuun is an eco-conscious design space that focuses on innovation informed by our culture. We allow ideas to flow and create out of necessity, such as our eco-packaging, which is an extension of our attire.

GQ: How did you settle on the name Nuun? What is the symbolism behind it? 

SM: There isn’t any. It was a wave[1]like doodle we drew while thinking of a name. The visual flow of the word and symmetry made sense when we wrote this doodle as a word. We later realised that nuun is the Arabic equivalent of the letter ‘n’, which is the first letter of my father’s name, Nagieb.

GQ: Tell us about your bioplastics. Describe the process of creating these materials.

SM: We’d just developed a T-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles (collected on beaches in Cape Town) blended with organic cotton and wanted to present it as a classic T-shirt in a transparent sleeve. We intended to create the exact product that exists in store but without any negative environmental impact. After months of searching, we found it near impossible to find this product anywhere. The material existed but wasn’t used in this context, and when we found something similar, it wasn’t available in Africa. Determined to make this product ourselves, we decided to partner with a company that produces the base material to rework it to suit our specific design needs. That’s how we became the first company in Africa to produce water-soluble packaging. Since this product was the first of its kind in Africa, we decided to forgo any explicit branding to allow others to use it in their brand spaces, which would have an exponential positive impact on the climate vs. if we kept this product to ourselves.

Q: What type of natural fibres or recyclable materials would you like to experiment with next? 

SM: As aforementioned, we allow the flow of ideas. Nothing is forced at Nuun, and since our focus is on eco-packaging, we’ve started exploring other alternatives made of all-natural ingredients such as leather grown at home using kombucha or ‘plastic’ made from agar-agar.  GQ: How would you like to see the fashion industry move towards a circular economy in the future? SM: The conversation around sustainability seems intimidating at first, especially to a younger brand, but this is why the idea of community is so important: so that we can all take one step at a time together. For that to occur, a shift in mindset is needed. We need to encourage sharing resources and information, as, ultimately, this reduces the waste produced. We’d also like to add that sustainability isn’t a competition, and no space can claim to be 100% sustainable All we can do is be better when we know better, and what works for one space may not work for another, but through this idea of community, we can all help each other.

GQ: The garments you create are conceptual and deconstructed. What’s the intention behind this? 

SM: There’s no set intention of how each garment will look. Each idea starts with a conversation with my mother, who’s abroad. We bounce ideas off each other, sending a few sketches to and fro. During this process, I’ll start cutting fabric to pin on a mannequin (sometimes my mother guides me via a video call) with only a silhouette in mind. This process leads to the ‘deconstructed’ look, as we don’t follow traditional patterns. 

GQ: What inspires your designs? 

SM: How our people (Muslims, in particular) have dressed throughout history. The layering of these garments, and innovative methods and techniques used to construct these pieces, are what we always revisit. 

GQ: Who do you design for? 

SM: Everyone. We design all our pieces as gender-neutral. If you feel comfortable wearing it, wear it. 

GQ: What do you want people to embody when they wear your clothes? 

SM: We want people to wear Nuun to feel like their most comfortable selves. We don’t want to force a narrative on anyone, but we’d like them to know that we carefully considered each step in the design of what they’re wearing and that they can wear it confidently.

GQ: You recently designed a concept abaya that sparked a lot of conversation. How does your religion or faith inform your design principles? 

SM: We reference our heritage in everything we do, indirectly or subtly. For example, our eco-packaging embodies the philosophy of taking care of our environment, a core aspect of our belief system. The Nuun abaya is one of the pieces more literally inspired by our heritage. With that, we wanted to create something grander, a celebratory moment that respectfully infuses our contemporary perspective into the iconic symbol of the abaya. We intended to rewrite a narrative that perpetually attempts to mock this style of dressing. We wanted to celebrate it, to show it in all its beauty, which we hope we achieved.

GQ: What’s your vision for the future of Nuun Concept Space?

SM: To continue as we’re doing, to grow in our own time and to make a difference, however grand or small.

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