Known for her fresh outlook on menswear fashion and tailoring, London-based designer Bianca Saunders has recently turned her attention to a different format: a new photo zine called 38 Love Lane.

The publication features a conversation with her mother as well as her mother’s photos she took while travelling during her 20s, reflecting the influence she has had on Saunders’ practice. It’s both a tribute to her mother’s stories and experiences, as well as an exploration of her own Jamaican heritage, all told through a combination of new and archive imagery.

“38 Love Lane resonates deeply with my fashion design practice because both are rooted in storytelling, identity, and cultural memory,” Saunders tells us. “My work often explores the nuances of Caribbean heritage, masculinity, and diaspora. This project mirrors those themes by preserving and honouring the lived experiences tied to place and belonging.”

The zine also features a new text by Jordan Anderson, a writer and founder of My Queer Blackness and My Black Queerness, and photographs by Belgian-Ghanaian fashion and documentary photographer Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti, who was commissioned to photograph his encounter with Jamaica – an entirely new experience for him.

“It was a pretty open and free approach to the project. I had never been to Jamaica before, so I didn’t know what to expect, and I wanted to keep an open mind and stumble upon interesting photographs,” the photographer tells us. Despite having never been to Jamaica before, the process of reflecting on personal heritage is a journey he has been on himself with his book Sika Kokoo, which was photographed in his father’s home country, Ghana.

His contributions to 38 Love Lane involved travelling across Jamaica for two weeks, making documentary photos along the way, and also spending two days photographing models wearing Saunders’ clothing.

Although the garments are inevitably an important facet of the project, they transcend the realms of a usual fashion editorial to become part of a bigger story. The photographer homed in on two men and their families, opening up a more intimate and personal lens on the project.

“With the two models, Damien and Jahzeal, I wanted to photograph them in their own environments, so we shot in and around their homes, with their friends and family,” he explains. “While editing the images, I noticed I had taken a lot of photos surrounding themes of home, family, and community – so we decided to make that the central theme of the book.”

“It was quite organic, we wanted to produce something to build on a story as we went along,” Saunders tells us. “I love Kwabena’s exploration and ability to be able to connect with the person in front of the camera. I love the ideas of empathy.”

Following an initial launch in Saunders’ home city of London, the two will be in conversation at Foam in Amsterdam – where the photographer lives – where they’ll be discussing the project as well as themes of identity and belonging.

“Engaging with 38 Love Lane allowed me to extend those ideas beyond clothing – into community, conversation, and shared history,” the designer says. “It’s a continuation of how I use design to create dialogue and connect with the past in meaningful, contemporary ways.” She has also said that she hopes “this is just the beginning of deeper dialogue and connection between Jamaica and its diaspora – something I’m deeply passionate about”.

38 Love Lane launches at Foam, Amsterdam on April 17; foam.org; biancasaunders.com