Before this, I spent five years running my own tailoring brand back in Brazil — own manufacture, from the ground up. After years of building something entirely mine, I knew I needed to step away, breathe, and figure out what I actually wanted to build next. So I did something that scared me a little: I closed the shop, and I traveled.

Europe was only meant to be a stop. I ended up staying — learning new languages, picking up on other cultures, giving myself room to be someone outside of "founder" for a while. But the pull toward building something of my own never really left.

What kept nagging at me was swimwear. I never loved the standard European cuts. And as more Brazilian-style bikinis made their way over, even that started to feel the same everywhere — copies of copies. I wanted something that actually felt considered.

The idea sat quietly for a while, until my partner — an entrepreneur himself — pushed me to take it seriously. On a trip through Asia, we walked past a made-to-order studio, and he encouraged me to just go in and ask. I almost talked myself out of it. I'm glad I didn't.