Twice nominated for a CAFA (Canadian Arts and Fashion Award) spotlighting emerging talent in fashion design, Golnar Ahmadian, the one-woman show and founder behind Golshaah, a Toronto-based lifestyle brand, is only just getting started.
Coming from a background in architecture, Ahmadian originally thought she would follow a path in interior design. Hailing from Iran, she moved to Canada almost six years ago, where she studied fashion at George Brown College. To nurture her creativity throughout her studies, she juggled experimental projects like styling, and even started a successful accessories brand called Lo’bat, which creates jewellery from recycled material. Lo’bat grew rapidly and led her to explore additional avenues for her creative pursuits, which then ignited the birth of Golshaah.
As a lifestyle brand without a limiting specialty, Golshaah branches into the spheres of fashion and homeware, taking on projects that authentically reflect Ahmadian. The first Golshaah collection was knitwear, bred through a desire to play with yarns. “From there, the brand grew to include timeless, seasonless, always wearable pieces. It was a time when I couldn’t find pieces I was into, or when I did, it was limited, so I decided to make my own collections,” she says. Her architecture training enabled the visualization of shapes and how they mix or overlap, making garment construction a natural calling.
The core of the brand is culture and identity. “Since I was raised and born in Iran, where hijab and scarves are part of the laws that I had to deal with every day, this reality shows up in what I create,” she says. “While I lived there, I had to creatively layer up while making it fashionable. Across the collections, there are a lot of silhouettes, details, and layering, even if it’s a spring/summer collection, which bring this notion to life. In fact, many silhouettes are just one piece but give the illusion of multiple layers.”
Despite its growth and accolades, Golshaah stays true to its principles. “I’m not doing projects based on trends, but instead, we are consciously incorporating ourselves into everything we’re doing,” she says. “That’s why I like to call Golshaah a lifestyle brand. Although there may be different collections, they have the same language.” She shares that whether it’s a knitwear piece or a homeware item, there is unity across each object, creating something that is uniquely Golshaah.
