When Troy Oraine Williamson, who later established himself as the eclectic founder and creative director of Tribe Nine Studios, first returned to Jamaica to live with his sister in Portmore, fashion design was never a first thought: graphics and web design stood out.

So, he started a small business where he would create graphic designs for clients called The Street Gypsies, which would eventually grow into the first iteration of Tribe Nine.

In an interview with Our Today, Williamson gave the back story to his beginnings as a fashion creator and the meaning behind the name Tribe Nine.

“I actually started Tribe Nine as a graphic and web design business and I knew from before I ever got to Jamaica, that any company I started would be called ‘Tribe Nine’,” said Williamson.

“The name Tribe Nine actually comes from my love for the idea behind having a tribe; a community around me that represents the same things that I represent, coupled with the nine different disciplines I wanted to have in the world of graphic and web design: animation, stop motion, web design, graphic design, UI design, packaging, digital advertisements, brand identity design, and illustration,” he added.

Williamson also revealed that initially he had wanted to have nine team members as well. He explained: “Nine for me is a universal number and represents a lot of power and it’s a number I’ve always seen around me, and the ‘Studios’ is something that I want to acquire all over the world.”

Even though he was working in graphic design, Williamson knew that he wanted to work in fashion but was unsure at the time if Jamaica even had a viable fashion industry. Through friends he made in the fashion space, he was eventually connected with the late Dexter Pottinger, a popular fashion figure.

Williamson credits Pottinger as a mentor and someone who introduced him to many local players and artistes in the fashion industry and music industry.

Williamson first became known on his own for his work in corporate Jamaica and among artistes as a stylist. After support from big-name artistes such as Protoje, Taurus Riley, Sean Paul, Lila Ike, and Beenie Man, he recognised the demand for his designs and decided to narrow his focus to styling and fashion designing, gradually phasing out the graphic design aspect of his business.

“Since then I’ve been developing the brand and actualising what I wanted the brand to be, which was pretty natural for me because I had a good idea of everything in my head with my time in spaces working with fashion, I knew about that world and how things worked and how clothes flowed.”

“I knew I wanted to create all of these things that I’ve acquired over the years and all of these places I’ve been over the years and I wanted to see it in one place and in my brand. A lot of my work is inspired by travelling, my childhood, things I used to own back in the day, or things I’ve seen on the street,” he continued.

Williamson explained that his latest collection, Seven Miles, is inspired by him fully embracing Jamaica as his home and takes inspiration from the free-spiritedness that he feels living in Jamaica.

Williamson credits his work to the support he gets from his team in putting his pieces together and recommends that upcoming designers utilise social media to showcase their work. He also advises them to always try to record the creative processes for their designs and implores any young person with interest to explore the world of fashion.

In pursuit of his overarching goal to develop the local fashion industry, Williamson shared that he plans on offering workshops for kids at the end of October.

READ: The Troy Oraine Williamson story: Life before fashion