Away from Africa

  Jacques Agbobly’s Journey from Lomé to American Fashion’s Future

The store at Kloof Street, Cape Town One of the benefits of social media is that it showcases small businesses at a lesser cost to them than mainstream advertising. From realtors to children's clothing to handicrafts from all over the world, you can find so many wonderful small businesses. In the United States, small businesses create the majority of jobs. Ashanti Design's joyful multicolored striped bean bags and ottomans stand out easily. And the items are made from recycled fabric remnants to boot! Not only does Ashanti have great designs, but it is also a business based on sustainability on many levels, and on helping people in different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa make a living. Away from Africa held an interview with Rob Walker, the founder of Ashanti Design, in Cape Town, South Africa. - How did the business get started? We used to work with an American NGO funded by USAid and other foundations, Aid to Artisans  (ATA). We did a lot of work with them in Mozambique. Thi...

A few years ago, I wrote about Mboko Lagriffe's " Barbebuexpo " in Douala: a novel way of organizing an art fair. In the meantime, he has not been idle. He continued painting, organizing bi-annual Barbecuexpo art fairs, designing household items, but the big "coup" has been to win the competition for a new design on Royal Air Maroc (RAM) airplanes. In 2016, Royal Air Maroc organized a competition, Wings of African Art, to decorate the exterior fuselage of its airplanes. The jury president was Mehdi Qotbi, head of the National Foundation of Museums of the Moroccan Kingdom, and included artists and critics of renown. There were three winners: Mboko Lagriffe from Cameroon, the Franco-Moroccan Sara Ouhaddou, and Saidou Dicko from Burkina Faso. Mboko Lagriffe also won the public vote.  The "Love" Royal Air Maroc plane (photo: Dayot JC) The Love plane in the air (photo: Guillaume Février) Painting: Frontières Irréelles (Unreal border...

Two tables, one design, by Lilikpó The Viaduc des Arts in the twelfth arrondissement in Paris now houses cafés and chic shops, including the Lilikpó workshop managed by Sika Viagbo. Walking by, the first thing you notice is the originality and the beauty of the creations through the store window. It's a workshop visible from the street: the designer, Sika Viagbo, works on her creations in front of passersby eyes. Before starting her own company, she worked with Pierre Mesguich (Paris), an internationally known mosaic designer, who has worked all over the world. Sika also interned separately in Tokyo and in China. The company's name means "cloud" in Ewé, one of the languages spoken in Togo, where her parents immigrated from. Her own design influences are multicultural, inspired by her travels and experience. How did Sika get started in this profession? She grew up in Vitry sur Seine, a Paris suburb. As a music major at the University of St. Denis P...

Caroline Barla When recently in Douala, where my spouse, Epee Ellong, has returned, I got together with a good friend I hadn't seen in a very, very long time. Her name is Caroline Barla, and she is (I think) the first female Cameroonian architect (her father, Nsangue Akwa, was the first in the registry of Cameroon architects, ONAC). Caroline has been busy in all those years in the design field, not only in architecture. We didn't have time to go into much detail, so I will mainly show you photos of her home, which is a showcase for contemporary African style. The Barla living room--a mix of contemporary  and traditional African style Above: Dining Room chair; below: Traditional Bamiléké funeral dancer's headdress Caroline's work area   Caroline also managed a store of original designs for a few years, Caramelle. One of her inventions was to create versions of the "kaba" (the Duala women's traditional dress since about 100 year...

Mansour Ourasanah The Vilcek Foundation was created to highlight the achievements of the many talented immigrants who made their life in the United States. Marica and Jan Vilcek are originally from Slovakia. Jan Vilcek, a microbiologist, has 45 patents in his name and was the co-inventor of the blockbuster drug, Remicade. Marica is an art historian. They fled  Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia for  the United States 50 years ago, and created the Vilcek Foundation in 2000. Every year, they give out rewards in different categories. This year’s focus was excellence and innovation in design. On June 19,  3 of the award recipients came together for a  panel discussion  at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City. The designers spoke about their creations, and topics covered were material ecology, and how can industrial design improve society? The discussion was moderated by Glenn Adamson, Director at the Museum of Arts and Design....

Over the years, I bought several "Africa" t-shirts for my son, all quite nice... Here they are. Purchased via Twitter AEF 2012 Edun Global Peace Exchange

T he words "modern" and "African art" are rarely used together. African art as usually identified as traditional art: sculpted masks, statues, in the same style they were done for hundreds of years. One of the galleries attempting to change this is the  Contemporary   African   Art   Gallery  in  Manhattan ,  New York  City. Founder Bill Karg is an architect, and he lived and worked for over five years in  Africa , working on low-income self-built housing, as a consultant for various organizations, such as USAID, the United Nations, the World Bank, and various African governments. El Anatsui wall hanging While he was in  Africa , he started collecting the work of contemporary local artists, and in doing so, met them and learned about their work. He realized that many were well-known, well-collected, and often shown in  Europe  but were virtually unknown in the  United States .  Karg felt that this situation...