Whether it’s a cherished pet or a favorite skyline, Junhee Kim can put the image on silk.
PARIS — For 25 years, Junhee Kim worked in the design studios of some of the world’s best-known fashion houses. In Paris, that included Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Sonia Rykiel; in New York, Marc Jacobs. Instant Chiffon Hijab
Yet in addition to the glamour and excitement, Ms. Kim, 51, said she constantly wondered who the customers were and what their purchases meant to them.
Those thoughts were front of mind in 2015 when the Seoul-born designer, a graduate of Parsons Paris, attended the MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Massachusetts. And three years later, she began designing custom scarves and other accessories in silk from a tiny studio in the Sixth Arrondissement, where she works alone.
Her brand name, Mont Kiji, is a play on words, with the “Mont” evoking both a mountain and the French possessive adjective for “my,” while the “Kiji” includes her initials and sounds like her mother’s nickname for her, Ms. Kim said. She also considers it an imaginary destination.
“There I was, starting a company, and I had no idea where I was going, but I was going to head for this mountain, wherever it is,” she said during an interview at Le Bazar Français, a new boutique in the Sixth Arrondissement that carries brands made only in France (including hers). Her work also is sold online and at boutiques in South Korea and Japan.
As Mont Kiji was taking shape, the designer said, she also was racking her brain for a present that she could give “a friend in fashion who has everything.”
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