FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – This year’s GRAMMYs is featuring a Fort Wayne designer. Mark Braster was chosen from a nationwide search to create a special clothing collection for this year’s music awards.

“It was the best feeling, honestly,” Braster said. “Being a creative, there’s a lot of ups and downs and challenges. Sometimes you get discouraged, so when this came through, I was like, ‘Wow. This is amazing!'”

Braster’s known since high school he wanted to work in fashion. He graduated from Northrop High School in 2011 and looked into design school.

“I actually got enrolled in a school and I was like, ‘I can’t afford to pay this out of pocket,’ so I just started teaching myself,” Braster said.

The self-made creative director – who goes by Brast for his design work – started with hustle.

“I’d reach out to celebrities via Twitter and I’d present collections and logos I think they needed. Some would contact me back and some wouldn’t,” he said.

He was working for the postal service delivering mail, when he got the call that would launch his career.

“Dj Khaled called me. I started doing merchandise designing for him. That led to single and album design and led to bigger relationships like Rick Ross, Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Lil Wayne and I have a collab with Neiman Marcus,” Braster said.

In 2018, he started working with the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival and that partnership has kept growing.

Now his latest collab is taking him to Hollywood for the GRAMMYs. Braster was chosen out of a nationwide search to create a limited-edition capsule collection for this year’s GRAMMYs – celebrating 50 years of hip hop.

“Where the Stars Align is the theme and I worked with CBS and the Recording Academy, of course,” Braster said. “It feels surreal. I’m still taking everything in. It’s just amazing you know?”

The collection just launched Thursday and will be available at a pop-up in Hollywood February 1 – 3. It’s also available to buy online here.

bktherula and JALEEL modeled the collection.

“I believe it’s going to open up doors that I’ve been trying to open for a while. I’m mainly just trying to shed light on the creativity and what I can bring to the table so sky’s the limit,” he said.

Proceeds from the capsule collection will go to MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s nonprofit that supports musicians in need with financial assistance, healthcare and addiction recovery.

Braster not only designed the clothing collection – he did the artwork for the Grammy House as well.

“I’ve worked with celebrities before but because it’s the GRAMMYs and knowing I’m part of history right now is going to be great,” he said.

The 65th Annual GRAMMY AWARDS airs February 5th at 7 p.m. on WANE 15.