They say some of the best things happen to you when you least expect it. Designer Naushaba Brohi certainly wasn’t expecting the kind of surprise her friend gave her: that George Clooney’s fiancé, international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin was seen sporting a necklace designed by her in an international publication.

“I was stunned,” said Brohi, who wowed audiences and critics alike when she debuted her label, Inaaya (named after her daughter) at Pakistan Fashion Week earlier this year. “I could not believe it,” she continued. “This happened around three weeks ago. I got a call from one of my friends in Spain. She was going through an issue of Hello! Magazine (the Spain edition) and she said ‘I saw Amal Alamuddin wearing your necklace!’” The friend in question was immediately asked to send a photo of the page. After the designer confirmed that the necklace was definitely hers, a copy of the issue was posted to her as well.

“What she was wearing is called the Sindoor Dori”, she explained, “I was inspired by the Sindhi sath lara — a traditional seven-layered necklace in gold beads. I’m Sindhi and my father had given me one that weighed seven tolas. Obviously I’m not going to wear that in public!”

Known for incorporating local culture and crafts into her designs, Brohi approached women in Babarloi (near Sukkur and Rohri) in Sindh who traditionally make parandas. “By putting two and two together of how to adapt the sath lara, I made drawings of the design I wanted them to make for me out of beads, thread and mirror work,” she said, “They laughed at what I was doing. They thought no one would take it. This is about a year and a half ago. I didn’t stock them locally because I didn’t think people would buy them here.”

But how does she think the piece of jewellery ended up adorning the neck of Alamuddin? “A lot of the times, these people don’t buy themselves,” said Brohi, “They have their own personal shoppers who buy for them. I used to be stocked at Fashion Compassion which is based out of London. According to the person who owns that enterprise, Amal bought the Sindoor Dori from there.”

Being featured in an international publication certainly has its own perks back home. “Last year, Vogue India picked up one of my jewellery pieces, the Zenith necklace, also made in seven layers,” she said, “When that came out, suddenly everyone wanted it. And now, suddenly everyone wants this.”

The designer who incorporates ethnic designs into her work has plans of expanding into other regions as well. That includes the troubled province of Balochistan. “I’m a hardcore desi,” she explained, “For me; it’s not just about Sindh. Right now I’m sampling in Khuzdar, Balochistan. I’ve been trying to do this for several months now. These women are scared. They shut down operations when they see their families being blown up. So it’s difficult.”

How has the experience been so far? “I’m happy to work with anyone who needs and wants to work,” she responded, “Balochistan is the only place where I’m working through an organisation, Water Environment and Sanitation Society (WESS) and their sister concern Women Economic Empowerment Balochistan, because I can’t travel there and they can’t travel here. Their main focus is something else, but as a by-product of their setup, they work with women on the revival of crafts.”

The distinction here is that where she might collaborate with charitable organisations, unlike other designers who are doing similar work, her label itself is not one. “I don’t run an NGO or a charitable organisation,” she said, “I don’t have investors or anything. This is a for-profit business. I live off this. It has to feed them (the people working for the organisation), myself and then grow as well.”

From what she’s seen so far, what does she think of ethnic Baloch designs? “The geometry is stunning,” she responded excitedly, “To me they’re all absolute mathematicians. Usually when we do embroidery or patchwork, we draw a stencil (chappa) first as a guide. These women don’t work with chappa, they count the thread in the fabric, the number of stitches they had to make as a measure and end up producing work with absolute symmetry. It’s very refined. They’re all luxury goods — I’m averse to term ‘craft fare’ when it comes to this. They’re luxury goods to me.”

The designer, who currently stocks in five locations: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Dubai and Washington D.C., would like to clarify that although a lot of people have termed her work as ‘ethnical fashion’, the truth is, it’s not. “Let me tell you this, I can’t afford the luxury of being ethical,” she said, “I am a socially-conscious person, but I do the best that I can. My carbon footprint is crazy because I drive everywhere. I don’t always know where my fabric is coming from — whether here or China for example. I’m the first to buy local wherever I can buy local.”

“I like to think it’s about building bridges to prosperity, in the sense that sure, culture is a huge proponent in what I've set out to do, but, perhaps people trump that,” she concluded thoughtfully, “Inaaya means empathy; it’s got more to do with our collective consciousness. The logo was inspired by that, our tag line: Together, forward, forever.”