Basquesse

Viviana Pannell, designer and director, was born and raised in Lima, Peru, a second generation Peruvian from her father’s side to a family of European immigrants from the French Basque region. From her mother’s side, Viviana has both German and Spanish blood. The history of both families is extremely rich featuring a prior President of the country and a national military hero.

From early childhood, Viviana was captivated by creativity and fashion has been a life-long passion.

Viviana did not study design but was convinced by her father to study business, graduating with a BBA in Business from the prestigious University of Lima. Soon after graduating, Viviana landed a job as head fashion designer for a large knitwear firm in Lima quickly followed by starting her own label through which she exported high fashion alpaca knitwear to selected boutiques in the US and Spain.

Viviana relocated to the USA (Houston, Texas) during the 1980s due to economic uncertainty amidst the terrorist activities of the Shining Path. On completing a self-funded MBA from the University of Houston, Viviana was head-hunted by a major UK multinational and later declined a managerial position in what was then the fastest growing company in Houston, in order to follow her English husband to New Zealand.