Why MABUYA?

When I opened INTENSIFY ME Boutique in Basel in December 2024, I wasn't thinking about creating a multibrand concept store.

I had discovered something I wanted to share.

It began with lingerie from Brazil. I was fascinated by pieces that approached the body differently, by the attention given to their construction and by the women whose work made them possible.

After almost twenty years working in pharmaceutical research and development, opening a boutique was an unexpected direction for me. But I was excited by the possibility of introducing something I genuinely believed deserved to be discovered.

I didn't know then how much that experience would change my own perspective.

What I discovered through the boutique

Running a boutique is very different from imagining one.

You learn from the people who walk through the door, from the conversations that happen unexpectedly and from the questions customers ask.

You also begin to understand the work behind the products in a different way.

The relationship with a designer becomes more than selecting pieces from a collection. You learn about their decisions, their challenges, the materials they choose and the compromises they sometimes have to make.

I found myself becoming increasingly interested in these stories.

I enjoyed discovering how something was made, why a designer had chosen a particular material or what had inspired an unusual silhouette.

And I loved being able to share those discoveries with someone who might never have encountered that work otherwise.

Gradually, I realised that this was one of the things I enjoyed most about having a boutique.

An interest that went beyond lingerie

My curiosity was never limited to one category of clothing.

I have always been interested in design, in objects, in the relationship between materials and the people who work with them.

As I met more designers and discovered different creative practices, I began imagining what else the boutique could become.

There were beautiful clothes I wanted to introduce. Objects whose design or craftsmanship fascinated me. Independent creators whose work I admired, even when it had nothing to do with lingerie.

But INTENSIFY ME Boutique had been created around a specific brand and a particular product category.

That identity had been important in the beginning. It gave the boutique a clear direction and allowed me to introduce something that was still unfamiliar to many customers.

Over time, however, I felt the need for a space that could accommodate a wider range of discoveries.

Not because I had lost interest in lingerie.

Quite the opposite. That first experience had opened the door to everything that followed.

Why MABUYA

I wanted to create a place where different designers and creative perspectives could meet without needing to belong to the same category.

A boutique where Brazilian craftsmanship could be presented alongside international design, and where the selection was guided by the quality and originality of the work rather than by a particular aesthetic or trend.

I also wanted the freedom to introduce something unexpected.

A garment, an object, a material or a designer whose work might not immediately fit an established idea of what the boutique should offer.

That was the reason for creating MABUYA.

It wasn't simply a question of changing the name or adding more products.

I needed an identity that reflected what the boutique had gradually become for me: a place for discovering and sharing creative work.

The people behind what we discover

One of the things I value most about independent designers is the opportunity to understand the people and processes behind their work.

A finished piece rarely tells the whole story.

There are ideas that have been developed over years, techniques learned through experience, materials chosen for very particular reasons and decisions that may never be visible to the person wearing or using the result.

I find those details fascinating.

They also influence the way I select brands for MABUYA.

I don't believe every designer needs to share the same visual language or approach to creation. In fact, I find it much more interesting when they don't.

What matters to me is that there is something worth discovering in their work.

Sometimes it is an unusual construction. Sometimes it is a traditional technique interpreted in a contemporary way. Sometimes it is simply a perspective I haven't encountered before.

And I think a boutique can play an interesting role in bringing these different worlds into conversation.

A place that continues to evolve

MABUYA is still at the beginning of this new chapter.

INTENSIFY ME remains part of our selection, alongside designers whose work introduces other ways of thinking about clothing, materials and design.

There will be more discoveries, new collaborations and probably some unexpected directions.

I don't want to define too narrowly what MABUYA will become, because part of the reason for creating it was to leave room for that evolution.

What I do know is what I want it to offer.

A place where people can encounter something they didn't know existed.

Where a beautiful piece can lead to a conversation about the person who created it.

Where different cultures, techniques and creative ideas can meet.

And where the experience of discovering something matters as much as the possibility of taking it home.

That is what led me to MABUYA.

And it is what makes me excited about everything still to come.

Carina Baldi
Founder, MABUYA