Peek through the intricate detail and vibrancy of Mary Halym’s Gasthakun collection

Words by Jumana

You can truly see the blush pink of Jamburoalu  fading away into an ivory promise and hear the slurp of sweetness. The crack of the pomegranate shell to reveal a lively and delicious bloom underneath waiting to be munched. Smack your lips at the vibrant hue of passion fruit that burns in violet and you can hear the laughter of children running around on white sand streets with this delectable snack.

Believe us when we say that every single piece of Mary Halym’s @mh.maryhalym “Gasthakun ” collection at Art Gallery Male’ is so incredibly detailed that all your senses will be heightened. This is art you can see, feel and hear through memories. Looking back, this is a journey of determination, persistence and beautiful consistency.

Mary started her passion for sewing beautiful bags back in 2012 the same way she has tackled today’s success- from the ground up. “I didn’t even know how to put zips on, back then”. As chance would have it, it was during her first pregnancy while staying at home that agitated her creative muscles and drove Mary to create the now legendary MH bags. Through encouragement from her sister and tutorials online, the bag-making went full speed ahead and debuted initially at a consumer fair. She then took to making a page on Facebook initially where the designs were uploaded. It was no surprise that orders started streaming in.

Mary is one of those people where the creativity just keeps on giving! Her initial approach with the bags left her wanting more of a hand in production when she began looking to source her own specific fabric for the burgeoning bag business. “I thought it would be so cool to have my own fabric for the bags. That’s when I initially started drawing actually”. While residing in Sri Lanka, she first sharpened her skills at pen and ink sketches.

Seeing the beautifully detailed pieces of display today, it may be hard to comprehend that this beautiful beginning was her first ever effort at drawing. Ask her any day and she will lovingly insist that it was her husband, the legendary artist Afzal Shaafiu @afumeeha who taught her throughout. It was early in 2019 when Mary debuted beautiful floral fabric bags that made customers swoon, with her Fura collection. Even back then, it was clear that her designs were unique and detailed with the ability to invoke feelings in addition to looking fantastic. Looking back, Mary is also a testament to the power of hard work, consistency and big dreams as seen in her instagram post;

“Milestone after milestone, hurdle after hurdle, it has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience throughout my creative journey.. from learning to sew, draw, making patterns to designing fabrics.. I’m proud to present you my latest floral fabric from which I made my own bag. More color variations will come soon. Thank you all for the love and support especially @afumeeha for guiding me to make my dreams a reality. I have bigger dreams to catch”

12 January 2019 @mh.maryhalym

Speaking of hurdles, it was just a few short months after Mary and her family moved to the UK when the pandemic struck. Mary recalled “We had just moved and I hadn’t even gotten around to buying a sewing machine yet, when lockdown happened”. 

“I am not the kind of person who can sit around and not do something. I always crave doing something creative. So that’s when I wanted to begin watercolor. So it was during lockdown when I started learning the medium from knowing absolutely nothing about it initially”.

Mary was stuck within the pandemic, far away from home and missing it. As is apparent from the care and love that has gone into this collection, it is a homage to these islands and her home – to the bounties of this land and the lives it holds. She recalled her humble beginnings starting from whatever was available in her fridge at the time such as tomatoes and onions as she familiarized herself with the dance of a painter with her watercolors. “I loved these first paintings.. So I started moving on to subjects like banana blossoms and other things available in Maldives due to that long yearning for home. Soon, it had expanded and became a collection of its own”.

It was then that Mary exhibited in Bath, UK where all the hard work and consistency paid off and it was very well-received. Fans of these beautiful pieces of art were definitely not lacking closer to home either, with certain pieces being shipped down to Maldives via DHL post while she was still in the UK. She also appreciates the opportunity provided by Art Gallery Male’ where the current collection is.

“One piece of advice I would give is to not think “I can’t do this”. If you want to do it, you absolutely can! Things like watercolor is a skill you can practice. Even through busy schedules, giving the practice an hour or 30 minutes daily will make such a major difference”.

As for right now, Mary hopes to dive even more into botanicals. She believes it was springtime in Bath, UK that spurned this love for florals in her where entire streets would be lined with trees full of blossoms. “You start noticing things more I guess. I notice plants everywhere now. Things I never noticed before like a noni apple tree growing at Jamaluddin School”.

“The collection was named ‘Gasthakun’ and is a double entendre with two meanings. One is to mean “from trees” while the other meaning is for “on purpose” in Dhivehi”