1. Please introduce yourself! Who are you and what are you known for?

Hi I’m Ada the designer of my eponymous brand Ada Zanditon Couture! I’m known for encouraging people to harness the power of their inner warrior deity, to honour the goddess, god or non binary deity within; to truly connect with the power of who we are and self love because this enhances everything we do in life.  I create with a queer, sex positive &  body positive femme perspective on fetish and BDSM.

My designs are known for their unique shapes and mix of very colourful holographic and neon looks, contrasted with the same silhouettes in very dark vibes black and metallic. I like to blend historical references with futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic.

2.Your brand is all about empowering people to find their inner deity – tell us a bit more about your message, and how you hope to inspire people!

3. You’ve always been fantastic at promoting diversity and inclusivity, which is so crucial – we’d love to know your personal thoughts on why you feel this is so important!

4. How did you get into this/ what lead you to this path?

After interning with Alexander McQueen and working in Paris in 2004, I then did BA Fashion Womenswear at London College of Fashion – gaining my first class degree and garnering much attention for my work at the LCF Press Show.

After that I began my journey in Fashion by being selected by the British Fashion Council for the London Fashion Week exhibition, and the Fashion Scout team chose me for their Ones to Watch Show. I started showing my collections of women’s ready-to-wear at Fashion Week, and selling them to stores around the world. I also started a men’s ready to wear label with my bestie NEO10Y called Ada + Nik, and we also sold our collections to stores around the world including Harrods.

Then in 2015 having achieved many of my dreams I started thinking about my long term goals, and how to balance work life and creative fulfilment.  I started making harnesses, and that led me more down the path of creative bondage accessories and fetish wear. I love creating unique custom looks and having a direct connection with my customer. Creatively the work is very fulfilling, and I love doing shows at events and clubs where the audience is the person who would wear the brand. It’s great to have had the experience in the industry that I have had, and it’s wonderful to find a more unique path that makes me feel able to fully connect all my passions and have this holistic approach to my work life and happiness.

5. What are some of your proudest achievements? Don’t be modest!

Over the years I’ve had the honour to see my designs worn by some incredible artists including: Ariana Grande, A’Whora, Ava Max, Cheddar Gorgeous, Daphne Guinness, Kate Nash, King Princess, Lil’ Kim, Mariah Carey,  Munroe Bergdorf, Poppy, Willam and Tinashe just to mention a few.

If money was no object, I would love to hire a team to help me find and develop the best eco-friendly materials and production methods that are super sustainable, but also match with my aesthetic. I’d also love to be able to integrate more digital solutions – like every customer being able to have their own avatar and develop more products virtually, so that would be more sustainable long term as well.

All of these ways of continuing to grow and improve everything I do I am working on already, but as I make everything myself by hand, am constantly working on custom work, and also running the business, doing pop ups…I also do my whole website myself, product photography and so on – you name it – it’s a one woman show! So if I was able to have that kind of help to grow the brand in those ways, that would be a dream come true. I think that’s the future for everything. I started using vinyl and only using leather if it would otherwise be in landfill – so using rescued leather to move away from using non vegan materials, and my next goal is to find even more eco friendly ways of creating.

7. Your favourite anecdote/show at TG?

Two of them! Firstly I loved performing at Torture Garden many years ago with my friend Samar – an incredible suspension artist from San Francisco. We did an autopsy on Toys and called it Toyopsy. The climax of our performance was cutting open a large teddy bear filled with candy and fake blood and chocolate lip balm……. things got quite messy and what made me laugh the most was how horrified this desecration of toys was to even some of the most hardcore people in the audience!

In 2019 when I did my pig themed show at Torture Garden at Electrowerkz that was amazing – my friends Antonio, Ric and Todd – an incredibly creative throuple – were dressed up as the 3 little pigs, and then all of the models interacted with them through play creating so many amazing scenes on stage! It included weapons performer extraordinaire Ayesha H cracking her whip. There was also wax play and sploshing…the fun and the freedom to do all of this was wonderful, and I’m so thankful to everyone at TG for giving creatives like me the opportunity to create and express ourselves in the truest way.