OUR NAME
MAKU is our founders name and it carries her Māori heritage.
As a child she was bullied for her Māori name, so for years she kept it quiet, not out of shame but out of the particular kind of caution that comes from growing up in rooms that weren't built for you.
One day she stopped keeping it quiet and gave it to everything she makes, and it turned out to be the most freeing thing she has ever done. A moment to heal her younger self, and to reclaim her identity.
Maku Fenaroli grew up knowing she was meant for a different life. She moved to Melbourne alone, no safety net, no contacts, and found herself through art.
How fitting that she also found herself again in reclaiming her Māori name.
MAKU Studios is the natural extension of that freedom. A woman who walked toward herself and built something that is entirely, unapologetically hers.
What she didn't do was ask permission.
OUR STORY
MAKU Studios was born in the most poetic way.
Maku (the founder) was deep in a creative identity crisis, stuck in a cycle of painting things she hated, and it was in that particular low that she decided to put her art on tees because she couldn't find any that she liked herself.
She had nothing to lose, it was never intended to turn into a brand but a few months in she knew this was something special.
She could tell this was the moment she could finally do the thing she always thought she couldn't. Maku had dreamed of being a fashion designer since she was little, she would have sewing parties with her friends and was always drawing dresses but she never had the maths or patience for pattern making.
But now with the tshirts bringing in a decent income she could pay someone to help her turn this brand into something real.
And here we are today! A brand born out of a moment we thought we had nothing to lose.
How cliché that the artist found her purpose in turmoil.
Welcome to our world of colour.
We want to leave you with Maku’s Mantra:
‘”I always tell my kids - Do not care about colouring in the lines, because nothing interesting ever happens inside them”
THE DOUBLE SKIRT TEST
Maku’s earliest memory of fashion is wearing a skirt to school and coming home that afternoon to tell her mum, with great excitement, that someone had said she looked pretty. The next day she wore two, the very first sign that pretty was never going to be interesting enough for her.
This brand is so much more than another pretty tshirt or dress. It’s an artist who despite all odds found the place she belongs. It’s permission to wear whatever makes you happy and to never settle for ordinary.
If that 6 year old two skirt wearing girl wouldn’t approve of the design, if it wouldn’t fill her with excitement, we wont make it.
OUR COMMITMENT
Our commitments are simple.
Our prints will always start as hand painted artwork.
We will never lean into fast fashion culture.
We will always care deeply about the quality and fit of our garments, because the canvas that the art lives on needs to be exceptional to allow the artwork to breathe.
We will never use plastic packaging, swing tags, and single use packaging.
We will always celebrate and champion human made.
We will only source ethically made garments
We are committed to minimising our footprint, we only have one planet and we are all responsible for it.
if it doesn't inspire us it wont be made.
OUR VALUES
The freedom to be exactly who you are.
Human rights. For everyone. No exceptions.
Standing up for those whose voices aren't always heard.
Protecting children and their futures.
Using our voice when silence would be easier.
Art that challenges. Fashion that says something.
The right to be different.
Kindness.
This is why we sponsor world vision and Doctors without borders as a brand because they align with our values.
BECAUSE BEING GOOD WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE QUIET.
GOOD ART, FOR BAD GIRLS.
