Unleashed Design Textiles, Decor and Fashion Accessories

A brand that is relatively new on the fashion scene, Unleashed Design already catching the eye of many fashion industry insiders.

At the recent fashion week, the brand collaborated with fashion designer Leah Misika’s LM brand as an accessories partner. “My line was inspired by the idea of Namibian women letting go of what they are expected to be and just become little girls again and being free. Unleashed is also about freedom and Leon works with leather which I also used on some of my pieces,” Misika said about her fashion week collaboration with Unleashed Design.

The brain child of Leon Engelbrecht, who only fully explored his creative abilities about two years ago, Unleashed Design houses a wide variety of creations that are catching the eye of many people across the country.

Before that, he had a colourful career in IT for 15 years, working his way up the corporate ladder and bagging numerous accomplishments along the way.

“Through those 15 years there was always this voice at the back of my head telling me that I worked hard, I was earning good money but I was not happy. It indicated this to me: That you can be earning well but the money is not the only thing that you need to make you happy,” he said in an interview with The Weekender earlier this week.

Talking about his background, he said that growing up, he had always been creative.

“I did music, I played the piano, I was in the choir, I played the flute and those kind of things but after school I just never gave my creative side room to breathe,” he recalled.

I met Engelbrecht at his Keinne Kuppe home which he gave me a tour of. Throughout the house, pieces of his work are proudly displayed and add an eclectic touch to the contemporary decor. Whether it’s his signature patterned scatter cushions in the living room and guest bedroom or the jewellery stand displaying tiny earrings he made from the same textile design, his touch is everywhere.

It was only while building this house with his partner that the creative bug resurfaced. “We had a blank canvas and I had free roam to decorate the house exactly how I wanted. I had all these options on how to make our personalities feature in the house. I chose the colour schemes, the finishes and afterwards, I was so inspired and decided to investigate this further,” he said. Soon enough, Engelbrecht linked up with a friend who was already in the interior design business to talk about what goes into it.

He later applied for an online short course in interior design through the University of Cape Town. Through that diploma, he learnt about space, the history of design, layout and colour which were all basic fundamentals to this new career path he was headed in. “Through that, Unleashed Design was born. What I saw is that most interior designers are importing all of their fabric from South Africa. I decided, why not do something local? Why not create a Namibian inspired pattern and just put a proudly Namibian stamp on there. Because after being here for 18 years, Namibia is my home. The country adopted me and I have adopted the country,” he said passionately.

Unleashed Design consists of a wide range of products such as custom-made decor items like cushion covers, cosmetic bags and table runners. Engelbrecht also does upholstery – all of which is done using his very own textiles.

Loving Leather

After his first textile and pattern range, he became a Namibia Manufacturers Association member in 2016. In that very year, he tried his luck and entered for the association’s awards and won the New Manufacturer of the Year Award. “The only thing that I had was small bags, pillows and my table wear but I think because of the local aspect of it and the quality aspect of it, they really liked what they saw,” he narrated.

That was a turning point for him, giving him more motivation to push on with his enterprise. While he had all along been juggling his business with IT jobs that he did on the side to make ends meet, Engelbrecht eventually took the risk of becoming a full-time entrepreneur in March.

He took a “month of creativity” where he switched off completely from social media and sought inspiration. Thereafter, he went for a leather course in South Africa which he took to end his dependency on others when it came to the manufacturing aspect of his business. “I thought that if I can teach myself a craft, then that is something that I can have till the day I die,” he said.

Today, Engelbrecht has added the manufacturing of leather bags of all kinds as well as belts to his business. He has also recently taken on an intern, whom he is teaching in order to ease the burden of orders that keep pouring in.

“My dad always had leather shoes on, his car always smelled like leather and he liked wearing leather jackets. So if I think of leather, I think of him. He passed away last year and he knew that I was always unhappy and I used some of the inheritance money he left for us to take myself through that course,” he said.

Today, every bag that he makes is in his father’s memory.

“He’s sort of part of every bag that I make and if he could see everything that I’ve done now, he would be very proud,” he added.

After the course, Engelbrecht was hooked. The leather products have now been seamlessly added to his business and he receives orders from across the country.

Unleashed Design is currently sold from Engelbrecht’s garage but plans are underway to move the products into retail space. An online shop is also in the pipeline.

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