ROBBY TJIA

Born 15th April 1984 in Indonesia, Tjia moved to Australia age 18 in a bid to crack to design industry. Studying graphic design for a year, he was exposed through technical drawings and illustrations to the arena of fashion, and on completing his diploma, decided to pursue a career in fashion design, beginning his Bachelor of Fashion and Textile Design at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

In mid 2006 as part of the UTS exchange program with the University of Westminster, London, he did an internship at the fashion house of Gilles Deacon, then, Alexander McQueen. In April 2007, he took to the Australian stage as a finalist in the Lancôme Colour Designs Awards, snaring the Modern Femininity Award for his ‘Celestial Delinquency’ range. He proceeded to compete in Paris in the international final alongside competitors hailing from 12 other acclaimed institutions around the world, earning 2nd place on the worldwide leg of the competition.

Set to graduate from UTS in December 2007, his major project titled ‘Underground Cyborg’ earned him first class honour, then showed at Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and won “Special Notice Award” for the Australian Fashion Graduate of the Year as part of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival.

He relocated to Paris in 2008, because he was offered a place to do my postgraduate studies in fashion at Institut Français de la Mode, the primary fashion school in France. Here, he had the opportunity to work with some of big fashion houses, such as designing a shoe collection for Louis Vuitton, working with Jean Collona, where his work is exhibited at Joyce Gallery at Palais Royal, and last but not least as one of the finalist for the Gucci Ecological bag.