Simple living, made with intention.
Where It All Began
I'm from Faisalabad, Pakistan, a city famous for two things: its textile industry and its people's sharp, quick-witted humor. I didn't fully appreciate that second part until I moved to Lahore for fashion school and my classmates made it very clear that I was, in fact, hilarious. Apparently that trait had been there all along.
Growing up, I wanted to be a painter or a sculptor. My parents had other ideas; science, they said, was the sensible path. I studied it. I respected it. And I'm now a firm believer that what my parents called "guidance" was actually a very loving form of blackmail. I say this with full affection.
My schooling was at Sacred Heart Convent School in Faisalabad. A place that instilled in me a sense of discipline and precision I still carry today. Education was never optional in our household. My father was a physics professor. My mother holds a bachelor's in Economics. My sisters followed the science path too. I, on the other hand, took a longer, more winding, and I'd argue a far more interesting route.
The Winding Road to Here
I came to the United States and enrolled at the College of DuPage, pursuing an Associate in Science and Mathematics. I then attempted a Bachelor's in Engineering Physics at UIC, a very respectable, very logical choice. And then I walked into a fashion design class at College of DuPage and something just clicked. I followed that feeling, took courses at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and eventually returned to Pakistan to complete a two-year diploma at Dandy School of Fashion Designing in Lahore.
Working as a designer in Lahore was one of the most fulfilling years of my life. I designed for men, women, girls, and boys. I played with color combinations nobody else was using. I made clothes that felt like me, not like the market, not like the trend reports, just me. That instinct has never left.
My idea of a perfect outing has always been wandering through old architecture, castles, and historical sites, the more forgotten and quiet, the better. Crowded modern places never called to me the way a crumbling courtyard or a centuries-old doorway did. My relationship with food is no different. A friend once said, "Don't let her pick the restaurant — she will go through the entire menu and order the one dish none of us can pronounce." He meant it as a warning. I took it as a compliment.
A Blue Collar Title, A Much Bigger Story
I've been at Macy's since 2017, not because it was my dream, but because it fits the way I'm wired. I am not a 9-to-5 person. I don't thrive under micromanagement. I like to be my own boss and work on my own terms. The job gives me that freedom. But it has never been the full picture of who I am.
I come from a family where education defines identity. And for a long time, a job title felt like the only measure people around me could see. This page is my way of showing the rest. The creative work, the curiosity, the cooking, the design all of it. My work doesn't always reflect who I am. This page does.
So, Who Is KK?
I am a trained fashion designer with a love for folk art, antique aesthetics, and traditional architecture from around the world. I cook simple recipes from global traditions. Not because they're trendy, but because they're interesting to me. I take photographs that my coworkers keep telling me belong in a cookbook. I do DIY projects that make sense to nobody but me, until they do.
I also recently discovered I have a mischievous side. My coworker says, "I've created a monster." I told her the monster was always there — it was just hibernating.
"My Kind of Keeps" is not a trend blog. It is not a brand strategy. It is simply a space where I get to be fully, unapologetically myself through food, through design, through the quiet and intentional way I've always chosen to live. Simple. Traditional. Rooted. And entirely my own.
Welcome to my world. Stay as long as you like.