Maya Liyer

My relationship with leather began at the age of eight, after my father returned home from an East London flea market having bought himself a vintage leather cap. I remember nervously sneaking it into my room and carefully placing it on my head, pushing my dark, silky hair away from my youthful angelic face and striking a variety of fashion poses in the mirror. As I tilted it at an angle the person staring back whispered, "You are sexy". At no time before had these very words been uttered by this eight year old child, something clicked and she never looked back.

Exiled from Vietnam after the war during ethnic cleansing my family made the difficult journey through Hong Kong on the way to in London.

I was raised by Vietnamese French and Chinese parents and grew up in a diverse and multicultural London, a post war upbringing with a strong patriarchal, confucian influence.

This culture didn't always blend well with the sights and sounds that I wanted to immerse myself in London, growing up first generation after the war in such an amazing city developed my thirst and natural inquisitive, creative nature into human psychology, sociology, race, gender roles, identity, sexuality, freedom of speech, and having the freedom of artistic creativity and expression encouraged me along my path.

My mixed heritage and intertwining cultures of East and West presented me a wealth of insightful instances some of which were inspiring, admirable, some were even conflicting, my early and formative years were a baptism of fire through which forged myself into what I am here today, unwavering strength and determination.