Addie Elabor’s job may have been as buyer for a lab supply company, but her passion was blending colorful, textured fabrics into attractive combinations. Eight years ago, she snipped free of the ties to her 9-to-5 work and launched D’IYANU, an eye-catching ethnic brand, in Norristown. Janelle Burrell peeked behind the curtain to tell her story for CBS3.

Elabor operates D’IYANU from a former industrial building. It is both her design room and her warehouse.

“I always just wanted something that was a showstopper,” she said, describing the kinds of pieces she wanted to create. “Something that someone would stop the wearer and say, “Wow! Where did you get that?” she explained.

The brand name, D’IYANU (“dee-yah-noo”), has been blended from two languages, French and Yoruba, dialect that grew from Nigeria, Benin, and Togo in West Africa.

Elabor was born in Nigeria and came to the Philadelphia area as a girl.

“I loved fashion, I loved uniqueness, and it kind of made sense to marry the two things together, my love for fashion and also just representing my heritage with the prints,” Elabor said. “Then we always put our own spin on it by creating a remix of it.”

Further information on D’IYANU, including the role social media played in its development and where to buy, are at CBS3.