The idea of a journey is not foreign to Sander Lak of Sies Marjan. Born in Brunei, he was raised in his native Holland, and studied at ArtEz in Arnhem and then at Central Saint Martins in London. He also worked for some of the world’s most preeminent fashion houses in Antwerp and Paris before he became creative director of Sies Marjan. We caught up with the designer, who won in the Emerging Talent category last year, to discuss his journey to the top of American fashion.

Congratulations on your Womenswear Designer of the Year nomination. What was your first reaction when you found out?

I was in LA for meetings and woke up to a lot of emails and texts about the nomination, which was obviously so exciting! I still have to pinch myself when these kinds of things happen.

How did you celebrate the nomination?

We did a big celebration with the whole company – a lot of pizza and drinks! I always tell my people that this is as much their nomination as it is mine.

You won in the Emerging Designer category last year. What about your brand has changed since you took home the Trova last year?

An award like this has huge reach and extends to places that we would normally not be able to get to, so it definitely created a lot more awareness. It also translates well beyond the fashion world and can resonate with people who might not know about the ins and outs of our industry.

How would you describe your creativity over the past year? What were your inspirations?

This past year was a very personal one when it came to my work. The summer collection was about my father, who passed when I was younger; it was about my friends and family, who were also in the show, and it was about home, particularly the feeling of home in New York.

The fall collection was about falling in love, which I did, and about all of the contradictions that happen and the compromises you make. I tried to translate that into how the collection was made and the “ingredients” that were used. I worked with fabrics that I never typically liked and made myself love them, and I incorporated colors that I fell out of love with a while ago, working with them in a different way in order to fall in love with them again.

What are you looking forward to the most at this year’s CFDA Awards?

We have a really exciting table!

What will you be doing during your Lyft ride to the Brooklyn Museum on June 3?

I’ll be driving with some of my guests, so it’ll be a really fun ride to the event!