FOUNDER JOURNEY
THE LONG ROUTE TO PARADISE
Our Founder, Andrea grew up in an immigrant family on an Essex council estate and went on to advise some of the world's most powerful governments and multilateral organisations, working on the conflicts that lead the evening news. After over a decade in international development, she came home and began to make joy.
Through Paradisefold, Andrea's mission is to help women take on the world with energy, clarity and confidence, flourishing in the process. That's why Paradisefold focusses on beautiful, purposeful pieces designed to last a lifetime and handmade by local British artisans using exceptionally high-quality fabrics, silks and wool.
TO THE MILLIMETRE
Every Paradisefold product is measured before it leaves our factory beneath the railway arches in East London by Andrea or one of our Quality Control team members.
"I spent years working in the midst of conflict and war. Now I spend my days making women feel ready for the world." - Andrea
EAST LONDON
Andrea was born in Lebanon. Home, after Beirut, was a council estate in Essex, and school was a local state school: a hugely multicultural spot straddling East London and Essex. She read law, completed a Master’s in Defence, Development and Diplomacy, and then took up a peripatetic career in international development. She soon became someone called upon when a country was coming apart. The UN, NATO, the UK and others have sought her counsel on various conflicts in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. She speaks Arabic, English and French, and has held her own in Burmese and Spanish.
Paradisefold started with her own hair. A busy woman with a hectic career, she wanted a silk hair wrap that would help her look after her curls, effortlessly, on the go, and could not find one to the quality and aesthetic she wanted, and so worked with local designers and created the Fold.
UNDER THE ARCHES
Over years Andrea developed relationships with local factors in East and North London. She now works with a local factory, a short distance from the estate where she grew up, hiring and supporting locals. A dozen people now make their living there. Every piece is British-made, cut and sewn by hand, in limited editions.
In whatever hours are left, she continues to consult on conflicts, runs a charity opening politics to people it usually overlooks, and is reading for a second master's in Practical Ethics at Oxford. But most days you will find her here, under the arches, with Bach on the radio.
A NOTE FROM ANDREA
I spent years advising governments in conflict environments. Now I spend my days making women feel ready for the world.
My old work was with countries experiencing huge outbreaks of violence, trying to fix services for local communities so that people could get on with their lives. It was always worth doing, but change never happened overnight.
Fashion is different and silk is particularly special. You can hold it to the light and put a ruler across it. When it is three and a half millimetres out, you can do what no conflict ever allows: begin again.
I wanted the people who make Paradisefold to come from the streets I came from, and I wanted the women who wear it to wake up a little happier and more confident than they were the night before. That is the whole ambition. It turns out to be quite a large one.
