PAVEL BERKY
Pavel Berky is from a Romany family and spent his childhood in a village in southern Slovakia and then in the town of Rimavská Sobota.
With the moving Pavel and his sister ended up in a new environment. Although they did not encounter bullying at school – according to Pavel, mainly because he and his sister were excellent students – he experienced many unpleasantness when going to and from school.
Pavel admits he was ashamed of his Romany origins when growing up.
Despite it frequently being expected of him today, Pavel does not speak Romany language which he greatly regrets.
However, this is not a reason for him to be ashamed of his origin. He says, he is proud of his Romany origin, family and Romany culture. Pavel admits that compared to his childhood and his teenage years, today his Romani origins are an advantage. They make him interesting and unique in his chosen field.
After elementary school he went to study fashion design in Trenčín, where he studied in first years trailer’s craft rather than fashion. By staying at the school, he gained basic skills important in the fashion field and his further career.
He participated in fashion competitions already in high school, but first real successes came during his studies at the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design in Prague. In 2012 he won competition Top Style Designer and fashion critics began to speak of him as the hope of the Czech fashion industry. It’s not just because of his talent, but also because of a humility particular to him and his own modest appearance.
In 2013 he turned to his Romani culture in his work, he released his „Coming out” collection, where he combines traditional Roma elements and modern minimalist style. Pavel had an opportunity to present his collection as finalist in Shooting Fashion Stars competition. His collection won the most photogenic collection award.
In 2013 he started to collaborate with Marlen, makers of premium fabrics in the Czech Republic. With his „GYPSY” collection Pavel followed the power of colours, but transformed them to silk fabrics. This collection was a great success in the fashion week in Bratislava. 2014 meant big success in Pavel´s career – he presented his work during fashion weeks in Prague, Bratislava, Kosice, Budapest and in London as a Czech representative with his collection at International Fashion Showcase. In 2015 moved to London to continue building his brand internationally. He won an American fashion competition in Salt Lake City in 2017 and after that he travelled to New York to introduced his “folk” collection. He lived in London for a while and after success in the Czech contest in 2018 he had to move back to Prague where he lives and works today. In 2020 Pavel started to work as a head designer for traditional Czech brand E.Daniely.
Pavel also loves cooking so he decided to try luck in MasterChef Czech Republic in 2020. He is currently one of the TOP 10 finalists in this contest. Appearance in this show brought his work, face and talent out of the box of fashion world and hand-to-hand with his pride to his Romani origin in front of millions of people in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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