Tasmina Nishat
Some designers arrive at their craft; others grow into it.
Tasmina Nishat belongs to the second group.
Raised in the vibrancy of Dhaka, she absorbed stories, colors, and textures from early childhood. Theatre became her academic and artistic home—a place where she learned to see the world through emotion, rhythm, and narrative. As a theatre activist, she understood how form and movement speak without words.
Her love for sketching and motifs, nurtured by her mother’s involvement in craft, made her path toward fabric design almost inevitable.
When Koinya began, Tasmina stepped into her role with an ease that felt predestined.
Her work today reflects a seamless blend of heritage, intuition, and storytelling—shaping Koinya’s identity with the quiet confidence of someone who has always belonged in the world of design.
Badhon Mahmud
Badhon Mahmud was born and raised in the Barendra region—a landscape of rivers, fields, and open sky.
Growing up in rural Bangladesh gave him an intimate understanding of nature, people, and the layered realities of life across different professions and social classes. These early encounters shaped his observational depth long before he had the words to describe it.
At sixteen, Badhon moved from village life to the city to continue his education. After completing his HSC in Rajshahi, he joined the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Jahangirnagar University. This shift—from village to city, from nature to stage—became one of his greatest assets, allowing him to view life through dual lenses.
Badhon’s professional journey began as a photographer. During his early university years, he worked with prominent Dhaka-based fashion brands, later moving into product photography. Through this work, he found himself closely connected to the world of textiles and fashion.
Entrepreneurship, however, had always lived within him. His father was a businessman, and as a child, Badhon repeatedly wrote the same line in every “Aim in Life” essay: I want to be a businessman.
Founding Koinya with Tasmina Nishat was a natural continuation of every chapter before it—an embrace of risk, creativity, and the unknown.
