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We are so excited to announce our partnership with Ghana-based sustainable accessories brand, AAKS! Founded by Ghanaian designer Akosua Afriyie-Kumi, AAKS is known for its brightly colored, handwoven raffia bags that celebrate the ancestral weaving of northern Ghana, while adding modern design elements and details (like leather straps and tassels.) Akosua created AAKS with the dual goal of introducing the world to her favorite weaving techniques, practiced by the women of Ghana, while also creating and igniting sustainable jobs within Africa. We were so excited to collaborate with AAKS (our first Ghana-based partnership!) both for its amazing design aesthetic and craftsmanship and its admirable social mission.
Our AAKS x Indego Africa collection features three beautifully textured and richly saturated navy and black handbags—a tote, a clutch, and a crossbody bag—all handwoven by AAKS’ artisan partners in Ghana (and accented with fun leather details!) We chatted with Akosua to hear more about her background and inspiration, and to find out what’s up next for her growing accessories brand. Read on for more.
You grew up in Ghana and also spent time living and studying in London. Can you tell us a little bit about why it was important to you to return to Ghana & support women there?
Ghana is my home, a beautiful expanse of land, people and culture. It's also where my family lives and a place I am very fond of. I couldn’t have imagined relocating anywhere else. My main aim of studies in the UK was to broaden my mind in my field, gain a wealth of experience and finally come back to Ghana to support the creative art and design industry and build a luxury African brand.
This happened quickly after seeing a gap in the market for beautifully handcrafted luxury bags that would utilise locally sourced materials such as raffia coupled with the traditional art of weaving, I knew I had something great to work towards and made the big move to fulfill my ultimate dream of owning my own fashion brand and igniting sustainable jobs in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
We absolutely love your bags—the natural raw materials, bright colors, and modern aesthetics. What are some of your biggest sources of inspiration?
Thank you! My biggest inspiration is everything around me. I am very inspired by the contrasting painted shacks in Ghana. The colour ways do not always work on paper but they work on the shacks and it’s beautiful. Looking around me really helps broaden my perspective on my surroundings.
Why were you excited to work with Indego Africa?
I have always wanted to work with a company that had a similar brand ethos as AAKS and Indego Africa is the perfect company for me. I love all that it stands for and it’s also where I see my brand in the next couple of years.
What is coming up this summer for AAKS?
I have the most fantastic opportunity through the Design Network Africa to visit Paris and showcase my work at Maison Objet this September and I am also now hosting my very first pop up store/exhibition in Accra, Ghana which I am very excited about. Our online store which we launched a couple of months ago now caters to a global audience and we are happy to focus on growing the brand locally and internationally this year by introducing new lines and ideas.
What is your must do/see/experience travel advice for anyone going to Ghana?
My must-do in Ghana is to visit Cape Coast’s coastal beaches and to go on the adrenaline rush canopy walk through the Kakum Forest!
What product - besides our collab bags! - is your favorite Indego product and why?
I adore the children wear and embroidery products Indego Africa makes. They are so beautiful.
We (along with just about everyone else on the planet these days) are obsessed with the eco-friendly, cool-girl-approved fashion label, Reformation. While best known for its effortlessly feminine dresses, tops and jumpsuits, Reformation recently added an accessories line to its collection featuring carefully-selected hats, bags, and shoes made by a range of sustainable fashion brands, including…yours truly!
We are so excited to have some of our newest handmade summer accessories—like our Pom Pom Palm Tote, Woven Hat, and Banana Leaf Beach Bag—featured on Reformation, a brand we <3 (and seriously admire) for its commitment to environmental sustainability and super cool style. Its tagline, “we make killer clothes that don’t kill the environment,” really says it all.
Most of Reformation’s limited-edition, small-batch collections are made in its factory in downtown L.A., using recycled, repurposed, or vintage materials. Every product—from flowy summer dresses to coveted crop sets—comes with a “RefScale” that allows you track the item’s environmental footprint from its very first thread all the way to your closet.
Reformation wants you to know exactly what goes into making the clothes you love—from the carbon dioxide emitted to the gallons of water used. In making this information public—and shedding light on the often environmentally hazardous (and socially harmful) materials, methods, and practices used in conventional manufacturing—Reformation seeks to revolutionize the fashion industry and help consumers around the world make informed, conscientious decisions about the clothes they buy.
We are thrilled to partner with a company whose values and do-good mission are so well-aligned with our own AND whose clothes we mega-love (seriously—we’ll take one of everything, please.) When it comes to doing good and looking good, they’ve got you covered. We’re definitely ready to #jointhereformation—are you?
To shop our summer accessories—made with love from natural raw materials in Rwanda—head to Reformation or visit our shop site
Introducing Issue One of the Indego Africa Zine—a brand-new publication bringing you a behind-the-scenes look into our world of impact, design, education, and collaboration in Rwanda and Ghana!
We are summer-loving folks here at Indego Africa, and we recently spent a sun-soaked day at the beach in Accra, Ghana taking in the country's magical coastlineWalking down the shore, we couldn't get enough of the bright pastel homes, breezy palm trees, and beautiful waves we spotted along the way. We snapped some pictures to share with you and get you inspired for summer too! Cheers to a summer of color, surf and sun.
Our newest collection of colorful, print-happy, wear-with-ease baby & kids clothes launched on Target.com this month! We checked in with our Creative Director (also a mom!) about the newly launched kids line and why we are so proud of all things #indegokids.What excited you about making Indego Africa available to the masses through a retailer like Target?We are so excited to tell our community about the Indego Africa mission and model and to showcase the work of these amazing artisan women to the world. We want to highlight the successes we’ve seen through our mission of education and economic empowerment; these are stories and experiences that can translate to so many areas of the globe, even right here at home in the U.S. We want people to celebrate the hard work of mamas, and of makers, wherever they are and whatever their backgrounds, and to appreciate the value of education and true social impact.Tell us more about the prints featured in the collection: What are they called? What inspired them?These prints are inspired by some of our favorite African wax print designs. The designs represent many different aspects of African culture: celebrations, rituals, regions and history. Each print is locally sourced and limited-edition.
Can you give us more background on the women artisans who worked on this line? What’s their story?
These talented women—most of whom are also mamas—are all part of an artisan cooperative named Umutima (which means “heart” in Kinyarwanda). Based in Nyamirambo, Kigali, Rwanda, this group of 30 women seamstresses inspires us everyday with their beautiful artistry, their determination to succeed, and their dreams for their own and their families’ futures. We recently asked three of them what motherhood and being a working mom means to them. Here’s what they said:
Jeanne Hakizimana, 30 years old; two children (1 boy; 1 girl)
"I work everyday to feed my family and give them everything they need. Some people say work is hard, but nothing feels hard when it’s for my kids."
Francine Byukusemge, 47 years old; eight children (3 boys; 5 girls)
"When we are all together, I love talking with my children. As their mom, I try to teach them new things, beyond what they learn in school. I want to teach them about the world and help them have happy lives."
Francoise Kanakuze, 46 years old; four children (1 boy; 3 girls)
"I work because I want all of my children to go to school. I want them to learn math, geography, physics, computers. Education will bring them bright futures, and that is what I want for them most of all."
Why infant / toddler clothing?
Well, first, because it's the cutest! We have always been fans of color and prints and all things happy and playful so it was a natural transition for our mainly home décor and women’s accessory brand to expand into infant and toddlers apparel. Also, 91% of the women we work with are mothers or caregivers who, on average, support four children each. Its important to us, and to them, for their children and their families to be a part of our story, and launching kids apparel was a super fun way to do that!
What makes the Indego Africa clothing unique from other infant / toddler’s clothing?
We work with unique prints sourced locally in Africa, and each piece is lovingly handmade by a Rwandan woman artisan. Each style in this collection is designed to travel with its wearer from home to play to party with an effortless, comfortable silhouette while still being stylish and statement-making (with a story of good behind it!). This collection celebrates color, creativity and, of course, the mama makers who put care into every product they make. All of our products are true labors of love for the artisans we work with, and what parent doesn't want a touch of made-with-sweetness for their little one?
Twiyubake, which means “to rebuild ourselves” in the Kinyarwanda language, is an artisan cooperative made up of 27 women in the Kayonza province of Eastern Rwanda. An Indego Africa partner since 2008, Twiyubake specializes in the art of banana leaf weaving—making rustically beautiful handcrafted products using locally grown leaves (that they often pick themselves!)
While we’ve been big fans of Twiyubake’s work since day one, it took a while for their products to catch on (and we sometimes struggled to get them enough orders because of it.) But that all changed last year when we launched our SS ’16 collection featuring beautiful summer beach bags & floor baskets) handmade by the ladies of Twiyubake! All of a sudden, orders began to pour in, and the artisans of Twiyubake found themselves so busy they could hardly keep up.
That’s where our Vocational Training students came in. You might remember that earlier this year we launched a Vocational Training program for female youth in Rwanda. The idea? Help young, unemployed women in Rwanda enter the workforce and earn sustainable income by training them in artisan skills and business management.
This semester of the program, there are nine young women training at Twiyubake Cooperative, all of whom were recruited (with the help of Twiyubake members!) from the surrounding Kayonza community. While none of these girls had previous artisan experience, they caught onto the craft of banana-leaf-weaving right away. They’re already working quickly to help Twiyubake meet their deadlines and even creating new products of their own!
It’s been an exciting experience for the Twiyubake leaders—President, Jacqueline Musabimana and Treasurer, Marie Josee Mukobwa—to train and mentor the younger women. As Jacqueline said:
“It’s good for me to learn how to manage people from different backgrounds and from different generations. Before, I didn’t have experience in training young girls, only other women. The girls all work at different speeds, but I’m trying to get them to the same level. I’m also teaching them discipline. I tell them: ‘I didn’t go to secondary school, but now, I’m the President of Twiyubake, and Indego Africa has trusted me to be your teacher. You, you have a diploma. You went to secondary school. Think about how much you can achieve—you just have to work hard and focus.”
We also spoke with some of the young women to hear their thoughts on our Vocational Training program and on working at Twiyubake. Clarisse, one of the trainees, told us:
“This program is very important. Right now, it is very difficult for people who finish high school to find jobs—there are no wage-paying jobs, no office jobs. People who don’t get these opportunities are left behind. This program is helping us learn skills so that right after high school, we can earn income and start working.”
Here, Clarisse touches on one of the main reasons we launched the Vocational Training program in the first place—Rwanda’s steep 63% youth underemployment rate. The trainees at Twiyubake describe dire circumstances in their communities—there are few, if any, jobs available for young women, leaving most to survive off of subsistence agriculture. Our Vocational Training is an opportunity for them to build marketable skills and establish a career path that will last them into the future.
This program is also a great opportunity for our partner cooperatives themselves to gain new, younger members. As Jacqueline said:
“We’re struggling because some of our members are getting older and aren’t able to work as quickly. We are really excited to train these young women and bring a new generation into our cooperative. We believe that this will improve the way our business is run and keep it going far into the future.”
By training young women and integrating them into their cooperatives, Twiyubake and other artisan businesses across Rwanda are helping to ensure the long-term sustainability of their enterprises as sources of income generation, employment, and artisan creativity for generations to come.
Further, as young women graduate from our business training programs and improve their artisanal skills, they are building the skills to become future leaders, business-owners, and change-makers.
And guess what?! Through May 31st, we are running a special 30% off summer accessories sale, featuring Twiyubake’s beautiful banana leaf beach bags! To shop, use code WEEKENDWIN at checkout
We absolutely love the whimsical, color-inspired paper art & décor pieces of Chloe Fleury—California-based artist, illustrator, prop stylist, and mom of two sweet little girls! Chloe Fleury is known for creating bright, magical worlds out of paper that make for wonderful and inspired nurseries, kids rooms, and more.
In honor of our Mother’s Month, we chatted with this amazing mama to hear more about her art and design inspiration and find out how these creative processes intersect with her life as a mom. Read on for more & keep your eyes peeled for a special glimpse into Chloe’s magical world…coming soon!
Your paper art and décor pieces are all so colorful and fun! Can you tell us more about your creative process—what inspires you?
I am really inspired by California and the colorful architecture in San Francisco. All those bright colored houses make me so happy!
How did you get started working with paper as an art form? What do you love about this medium?
I’ve loved working with paper for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid I loved doing origami, paper boxes and creating little worlds out of anything I could find including paper and cardboards. In art school I worked on finding my illustration style by mixing paint, cardboard and fabrics while creating little sets for stop motion animations. This is when i moved to San Francisco, 8 years ago that I started to use only paper as medium, I was so inspired by all the beautiful colored houses! Transforming flat paper sheets in three dimensional object is just magical.
This May, we’re holding our very first Mother’s Month, which is a celebration of motherhood & the incredible mamas we work with in Rwanda. You have two (adorable!) little girls, can you tell us some of your favorite things about being a mom?
Rediscovering all the little things in life with them. I love how Lula can be so enthusiast and happy about anything from a leaf or a rock she finds on our weekend adventures in the nature or a pretty dress she sees…She is so curious and eager to learn. I love watching Anouk and Lula together. The smile Lula has on her face when she comes home from school and sees her sister and Anouk’s admiration for her sister, she is the first one to laugh at Lula’s joke and I am sure soon she will follow her everywhere (when she starts crawling). Sisters are the best, it is so fun watching them grow up together.
Your whimsical, animal décor pieces make
for such great additions to baby & kids rooms! How does your own experience of being a mom (and decorating nurseries!) influence your design process?
I love watching my girls play in their nursery, and I think it’s important for them to have an inspiring space to grow up in. Since childhood I’ve always needed my room to be decorated, making it feel warm and inviting. A space where I could dream, create, play…a little world of my own! My paper animals are a great touch of color and fun into baby & kids rooms. Learning about the animals and their sounds is the first thing we taught Lula. I like to hang the new animals I make in Lula’s room and see her reaction, making sure she recognizes them - I have a looong list of new ones I’d like to make including the koala, giraffe, dinosaur…coming next is the peacock and probably the tiger as it’s Lula’s favorite!
Your little girls look oh-so-cute in our pattern-happy Indego Africa baby & kids clothes! We’d love to hear more about why you support Indego & our collections for little ones.
I am really impressed by the African women’s artisanal skills! The products are beautifully made, and I am really in love with the patterns and colors. Indego Africa is a beautiful and inspiring organization for helping the women with their education programs.
If you were to buy a gift for a new mom (or yourself!) from Indego Africa, what would you get and why?
I think that would be a pretty
basket! I have an addiction for baskets, from natural and simple ones to fringed or pom pom ones with beautiful colors! They are a great addition to any room in a home especially in a nursery for baby shoes, blanket and toys storage! I have a big collection and always want more!
To shop our Indego Africa kids collection, click here
Meet Umutima: the talented group of artisans behind our latest collection of print-happy, perfect-for-summer baby & kids’ clothes, now available on Target.com! Based in Nyamirambo, Rwanda, Umutima (which means “heart” in the Kinyarwanda language) is made up of 30 seamstresses who are known for their beautiful craftsmanship, impeccable detailing, and eye for design. These lovely ladies, most of whom are moms, sewed each item on this collection with love, care, and a touch of sweetness in every stitch.
We chatted with some of Umutima’s seamstresses to hear their thoughts on motherhood and what it’s like to be a working mom in Rwanda. Read their inspiring words below!
Jeanne Hakizimana
30
years old; two children
I
work everyday to feed my family and give them everything they need. Some people say work is hard, but nothing feels hard when it’s for my kids.
Francine Byukusemge
47 years old; eight children
When
we are all together, I love talking with my children. As their mom, I try to teach them new things, beyond what they learn in school. I want to teach them about the world and help them have happy lives.
Francoise Kanakuze
46 years old; four children
I
work because I want all of my children to go to school. I want them to learn math, geography, physics, computers. Education will bring them bright futures, and that is what I want for them most of all.
Bernadette Kamugwera
59
years old; two children
When
my children were young, we loved cooking together and preparing meals as a family. Now that they are older, nothing brings me more joy than to have their children at my home and for us all to cook and eat together.
Eugenie Mubamugunga
46
years old; one child
My son loves soccer and I love to watch him play. It makes me happy to see he has found something he loves.
To shop our latest baby & kids’ collection, click here